


Always in Constant Trouble

by SonnyDLV



Category: In the Heights - Miranda
Genre: Discipline, Family, Family Fluff, Gen, Spanking, big brother benny, big brother usnavi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-07
Updated: 2019-02-14
Packaged: 2019-03-01 12:28:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 18
Words: 29,966
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13294878
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SonnyDLV/pseuds/SonnyDLV
Summary: Sonny has Usnavi wrapped around his finger. That is, until Benny comes in...





	1. Chillax, You Know You Love Me

"Sonny, you’re late”

“Chillax, you know you love me”

Sonny sauntered in with the shit-eating grin that Usnavi found at times both endearing and irritating. This time it was just plain irritating. He had warned Sonny over and over about being late. 

“What did I tell you about being late again?” Usnavi questioned. Sonny merely shrugged in response, walking over to the fridge to help himself to a soda. He wasn’t particularly concerned about his cousin’s aggravation. Usnavi usually just lectured him when he screwed up, sometimes grounded him for like a day or made him work a few extra hours. Even the few times Usnavi had been upset enough to spank him when he was younger, it had barely hurt. Nothing compared to feeling Abuela Claudia’s spoon on his behind. Usnavi was a big softy and Sonny knew it. 

Before Usnavi could go any further with his lecture, Benny walked into the store. “Benny, perfect. Watch the store for a minute, wouldya? I gotta talk to the kid for a bit.” 

“Sure thing, bro. I don’t know what the little man did now, but judging from that smirk on his face, I’m pretty sure he could use a good kick in the ass.”

“My thoughts exactly,” Usnavi replied as he walked to the back room with Sonny in tow. Sonny tried to school his features and look appropriately contrite, knowing how easy it was to manipulate Usnavi when it came to punishment.

“Now, where were we?” Usnavi asked. “Oh yeah, last time you were late, I warned you that there would be consecuencias. Benny suggested you might need a kick in the ass and I think he may be right.” Sonny looked down at his shoes, both trying to look repentant and hide a grin. A spanking, if you could even call it that, from Usnavi was much better than being grounded. Plus, Usnavi always felt so bad about it that he spoiled him all day after. 

“ ‘Navi, noooooo.” Sonny protested, playing along for appearances. He couldn’t let Usnavi know how trivial this punishment really was. 

The use of his old nickname from Sonny’s childhood tugged on his heartstrings, making him want to give in. He decided in that moment to go even lighter on Sonny and not make him take his pants down. 

“Vamos, Sonny,” Usnavi said, giving Sonny’s hand a squeeze, “Be brave. It’ll be over before you know it.”

Usnavi pulled out a folding chair and plopped down on it. He motioned for Sonny to come over and lie over his knees. Sonny looked appropriately sullen as he slowly walked over to Usnavi’s side. Giving his cousin’s hand one more squeeze, Usnavi gently pulled Sonny’s torso down and shifted him until his butt was high in the air.

Not wanting to drag it out any longer than needed, Usnavi raised his hand up slightly and brought it down with what he thought was a good smack. In actuality, the spank delivered nothing more than a light sting. Nevertheless, Sonny gripped Usnavi’s pants tightly and let out a loud but artificial “ow.”

“I’m sorry, was that too hard?” Usnavi said hurriedly. He hadn’t spanked Sonny in a while and thought maybe he’d done too much. He knew he had to use more strength than when Sonny was little, but he wasn’t sure how much more. He decided for the remaining swats, he’d only use half the amount of strength of the first swat. 

Meanwhile, in the front of the store, Benny was not buying Sonny’s act. He had heard the entire exchange between the two as well as the first not-really-a-smack and Sonny’s dramatic reaction. Benny made up his mind to talk to Usnavi later about all of this. He had never given a hiding before, but lord knows, he has been on the receiving end enough times, mostly from Mr. Rosario. In his younger days, he had even played the same games that Sonny was now playing, but learned quickly that Kevin, unlike Usnavi, did not fall for that routine. If anything, the dramatics would earn Benny a few more licks. 

Usnavi settled on one swat for every year of Sonny’s age. Fourteen more to go. He brought his hand down again on the middle of Sonny’s pants and instead of a loud smacking noise, it made a dull thud against Sonny’s baggy shorts. Sonny squirmed and whined in response. 

Two smacks later, Sonny let out a sniffle and whined, “Lo siento, Usnavi.”

Trying to sound firm, Usnavi responded shakily, “You better be.” Inside, however, Usnavi was praying for the spanking to be over. 

For the next eight smacks, Usnavi moved gradually lower down Sonny’s bottom. Afraid to hit too hard on more sensitive areas of Sonny’s sit spots and thighs, Usnavi made his smacks even lighter the further down he went. By the time he reached the tops of Sonny’s legs, the smacks were more like pats. For his part, Sonny continued sniffling, kicking his legs, and pretending as if Usnavi were really blistering his butt.

“Alright, Sonny. Be brave,” Usnavi said while giving Sonny’s back a quick rub. “These last two are gonna be hard.”

“Yessir,” Sonny whined pitifully. Usnavi quickly brought down the last two, these “hard” smacks only delivering a mild sting that faded in about 10 seconds. Sonny let out a loud wail and made himself go limp over Usnavi’s lap. 

“There, there,” Usnavi cooed, “Estas bien. You did so well.” He rubbed Sonny’s back for a bit before pulling him to stand up. Once he had Sonny upright, Usnavi enveloped him into a hug, trying to console his poor weeping cousin. Taking off the kid’s baseball cap, he carded his hand through Sonny’s hair and tried to reassure him. Sonny rubbed his bottom gingerly, trying to rub out the imaginary sting. 

Once Sonny finally stopped sniffling, Usnavi held him at arms length and said as sternly as he could, “I hope you learned your lesson, Sonny.”

“Yes sir, I won’t be late again.” Sonny said looking down at his shoes. With that, Usnavi pulled him in for one more quick hug before putting his arm around Sonny’s shoulders and walking him out to the front of the store. 

Benny looked the pair up and down and took note of Sonny’s easy walk and lack of red eyes for all of the sniffling he had been doing. Even if Usnavi couldn’t, Benny could see through this charade. 

“Sonny, anything you want is free today. I’ll go get you a drink. You relax.” 

Benny watched Sonny sit down carelessly on a milk crate.

“Sitting pretty easy there for someone who just got his butt whooped, aren’t ya?” Benny said with a roll of his eyes. Sonny shot up and looked to see if Usnavi had noticed. Luckily for Sonny’s behind, he hadn’t. Sonny and Benny stared each other down for a moment before Usnavi came back.

“Look, I gotta jet. I’ll be back after work and I wanna talk to you about the little man over here,” Benny said as he left the store. Usnavi looked after him confused and Sonny suddenly found himself busy stocking the shelves.

“Well, that’s weird.” Usnavi said. In his head, he thought maybe Benny thought Sonny was too old to spank or something. Just then, Vanessa walked into the store and his thoughts were quickly distracted.


	2. You Ain't Got No Skills

“Hey, Usnavi. What up man?” Benny said as he swung open the bodega door.

“Eh, you know. Another day, another dollar. What’d you wanna talk to me about?”

“Oh yeah, about that…” Benny trailed off. The usually smooth talker didn’t quite know how to approach the subject. How do you tell someone that they’re being manipulated by their not yet sixteen year old cousin? He decided to just be blunt and go out and say it. “I think you were too soft with Sonny.”

“What?” Usnavi said, surprised, “Benny, he was crying.” All day he had been worried that he had been too hard on his little cousin and now Benny was telling him he wasn’t hard enough. 

“It’s all an act, bro. Didn’t you notice that despite all of the sniffling he was doing, his eyes weren’t at all red?”

“But he looked so upset! He must still be sore. I should send him a text to see if he’s okay,” Usnavi said, pulling out his phone.

Benny quickly snatched the phone from Usnavi, and said “Man, when you left to get him a soda he plopped right down on the milk crate without a second thought. He only jumped back up when I teased him about it.”

“You teased him? Benny, he was already so upset!”

“Relax. I only teased him about being able to sit down, not about being spanked. I’d have no leg to stand on there. Mr. Rosario beat my ass until I was far older than Sonny. Hell, if I screwed up enough, I bet he’d still do it now. I was giving him a hard time because I knew as well as he did that that spanking did not hurt one bit.” Even though Benny had been calling Kevin by his first name for a few months now since starting to see Nina, he fell back into the habit of using the more respectful title in this conversation. It only seemed right when describing someone who whipped your ass. First names were for equals and in that situation, they were certainly not equal.

“I gave him fifteen swats,” Usnavi challenged, bringing Benny back to the conversation at hand, “That’s a lot!”

“With what? Your hand? That’s nothing! Did you even pull his pants down?”

“Well, I was gonna but then he looked so sad, I decided to let him keep ‘em up.”

“That little pouty face of his was part of the act,” Benny argued, doing an almost perfect imitation of the expression, “Look, I don’t wanna tell you how to raise the kid or nothing, but I know what it’s like to be Sonny. I was a troublemaker too. When Mr. Rosario first took me to task, I tried to play the same games as Sonny is now. I begged and pleaded and cried and hollered but it never made any difference.”

“I still don’t know man. He’s just a kid. I don’t wanna be too hard on him.”

“He’s almost 16! He barely felt the couple of pats you gave him back there. I’m telling you, if you really wanna make an impact, you gotta take his pants down and smack his little butt till it’s red. Or you could do what Mr. Rosario did and whip him with your belt.”

“Whip him with my belt? Hell no! And besides, I don’t even wear one.”

“You can borrow mine. Or didn’t your Abuela use to use a wooden spoon? I remember from the times we got in trouble together as kids that that thing leaves a wicked sting,” Benny said with a slight grin. 

“Huh, funny. It seems like every time I got in trouble growing up it was because you talked me into doing something stupid.”

“That’s exactly my point. I’ve been in my fair share of trouble, especially when I was the little man’s age. Mr. Rosario straightened me out and now you’ve gotta straighten Sonny out. When he sasses you, just pop him on the leg. And when he screws up or disobeys you, you gotta really beat his behind.”

“I still really think that the spanking today did straighten him out. He’s been pretty good all day. But if he acts up again today, I’ll consider going a little harder on him.”

“Speak of the devil,” Benny announced as Sonny returned from taking out the trash.

“Hey, Sonny. Tomorrow I need you to wash the windows,” Usnavi said.

“Aw cuz! Window washing sucks. Can’t I do it next week?” Usnavi wanted to give in but Benny gave him a meaningful look. 

“Sonny, I said tomorrow. Now go sweep the back. Ahora.” Usnavi said and Sonny stomped off. 

“See, this is exactly what I’m talking about. He wouldn’t argue with you like that if he thought you would give him a good swat for his attitude.”

“Well, a stop to the arguing does sound good. Maybe I’ll try it next time.” Usnavi and Benny chatted for a moment before Sonny got back.

“I’m done. Happy?” Sonny asked sarcastically. Benny glared at him.

“Sonny, c’mere.”

“What?” Sonny asked. Usnavi just crooked his finger at him. When Sonny was close enough, Usnavi gently grabbed his wrist, spun him around, and gave him a mild smack. Sonny jumped up like he’d been branded, dancing around and rubbing his bottom. It still didn’t hurt much, but Sonny knew Benny was behind this. Usnavi had never smacked him before for arguing. He knew he had to step his game up if he wanted to keep his pushover cousin. 

“ ‘Navi! That hurt. I’m still sore from earlier.” Sonny whined. Benny just shook his head. He knew swat couldn’t have hurt much, if at all, and there was no way in hell that he had any lingering soreness from this morning’s spanking. Usnavi just caressed Sonny’s face and said softly, “No more arguing, bueno?”

“Yes sir,” Sonny replied meekly, biting his lip to fight a laugh. Part of him couldn’t believe that Usnavi was still buying this act. 

“Alright, it’s almost closing time and you’ve had a long day. Why don’t you head on home? I’ll finish up here.” Usnavi said, patting Sonny on the back and guiding him toward the door.

“Thanks cuz,” Sonny said with one last dramatic sniffle.

Benny waited until the door had shut behind Sonny before he turned to Usnavi. “Don’t you see what’s going on here? You give him one little smack that your Abuela could have put to shame and then you let him go home early? Don’t you see that you’re rewarding bad behavior?”

“Am not!” Usnavi said indignantly.

“You let him go almost an hour early? To make up for a little tap to the butt?”

“Fine, I can sorta see your point. It seems like kind of a wash to let him go early. Next time, I won’t let him go.”

“And next time you make that swat count.”

“Can you help me clean up while you lecture me? We’re a little short staffed,” Usnavi said with a wry grin. Benny shook his head and starting picking up boxes, hoping that he soon would get through to his friend.


	3. Hey, Let Me In, Yo!

As Benny walked home from the bodega that night, he couldn’t stop thinking about this whole Sonny issue. Dammit, nine years ago he was Sonny. Where would he be if his boss hadn’t taken him in hand?

Flashback

“Drop the wrench and freeze,” a cop shouted at a fifteen year old Benny. Instead, Benny ran like hell. He sprinted away from the fire hydrant that he was trying to bust open, eventually making it to his favorite hiding place, the Rosario’s dispatch. Not even stopping to see if the cop was still following him, he hopped over the counter and hid under it. Unfortunately, Mr. Rosario heard the commotion and came out to find the kid, half scared, half snickering, hiding in his dispatch booth. He put his hands on his hips and glared down at the kid.

“Benny, I told you last time that you can’t hide from the policia in here. I run a reputable business and I can’t be harboring fugitives.” Kevin continued to glare at the kid while he waited for Benny to come up with a good excuse. 

Before Benny could come up with something, a cop came up and asked the older man, “Have you seen any kids running by here? I caught some little punk trying to pop a hydrant down the street and I think he came this way.”

“No sir. No kids running by here.” Mr. Rosario lied convincingly. Benny breathed a sigh of relief. 

“Alright, well thank you for your time,” the officer replied wearily and walked back in the direction he came. As soon as he was out of sight, Kevin told Benny, “Bueno, the coast is clear. You can come out now.”

Benny climbed out from under the counter and thanked Mr. Rosario profusely. “Don’t thank me yet,” Mr. Rosario replied, “You and me need to have a little chat.”

At those words, Benny’s heart sank. He was sure Mr. Rosario was going to tell him to leave and never come back. Kevin, however, had another idea in mind. He was going to show Benny that he was indeed part of the family. And, as part of the family, Benny was going to learn what happens to a Rosario kid when they screw up. Kevin beckoned for Benny to follow him into the back office. When they got there, he paused a moment thinking what the best way to have this conversation was. He thought that sitting at the opposite side of the desk from Benny seemed too formal, but continuing to have the conversation while standing wasn’t authoritative enough. Finally, he decided to pull the small chair away from the desk so Benny could sit while he stood. 

“Mr Rosario—" Benny began, trying to explain himself.

“No, no, no. I’m talking now,” Kevin cut him off. Benny bowed his head at the intense glare he was given. “Five times this month you’ve run into here to hide from the policia. Five! And each and every time I’ve allowed you to hide in here. In my place of business. This time, I even lied for you. And every time, you know what I’ve told myself?”

“Umm—" Benny tried to respond but was again cut off. 

“No, you don’t speak. Each time I’ve told myself, ‘Kevin, this is the last time you cover for that boy,’ and then what do I do? I cover for you. You keep doing this and I keep letting you. One of us needs to put an end to this and it’s become clear to me that that someone isn’t going to be you. Am I right?”

Benny just stared up at him, unsure if he was allowed to speak or not. Kevin looked at him for a moment before realizing what was happening and sighing, “You can answer that.”

“I promise sir, this was the last time,” Benny replied quickly.

“You say that every time. So now it’s time for me to put a stop to this.”

“Yes sir. I’ll be out of your hair. I won’t come by here again.”

Kevin rolled his eyes, but softened his tone a bit before telling the kid, “Would you just listen to me before speaking? I think you’re a good kid, Benny. A good kid with a knack for making bad decisions. I was going to tell you that I was going to teach you to drive when you turn 16 and when I think you’ve had enough practice, I was going to hire you for Rosario’s.”

“You were?” Benny asked, simultaneously excited about being given a chance and scared he’d blown said chance. 

“Sí, but you’ve shown me again and again that I can’t trust you. So that’s why I’m going to give you a choice.”

“A choice?” Benny asked, confused.

“Sí, a choice. Option one is you can walk out of here and never come back. Don’t hang around. Don’t talk to my daughter. Certainly don’t try and hide here when you’re running from the cops.”

“No, please, Mr. Rosario. What’s the other option?” Benny practically begged. 

“Option two is I let you become part of this family so to speak. I’ll teach you to drive, tie a tie, and all the other things that come with being a man. But, you’ll have to own up to your mistakes like a Rosario does.”

“What does that mean?”

“Starting today, when you screw up, you’ll feel my belt across your trasero.” Benny’s Spanish wasn’t that great but he was pretty sure he could interpret what that meant. 

“What! You can’t do that!” Benny yelled, outraged. “I’m practically grown.”

Kevin had to chuckle at that. Fifteen years old and the boy thought he was a man. “You may think that, but you still have much to learn,” he told Benny, “I won’t force you into anything. Hell, I couldn’t if I tried. You’re already as big as me. I’ll give you a few minutes to make your decision. If you choose the first option, I would advise you to be gone when I come back. But, if you’re choosing to take the punishment you’ve earned, I’ll expect to find you here, bent over the desk with your jeans around your ankles.” 

With that, Kevin excited the room and left Benny alone with his thoughts. Benny was torn. On the one hand, he loved hanging around with the Rosarios. Mrs. Rosario always made him feel at home and he loved that Nina looked up to him and was always trying to teach him Spanish phrases. And Mr. Rosario, as distant as he acted, had turned into a strong influence in his life over the past five years. On the other hand, he didn’t want to get his butt whooped. No one had ever taken a belt to him before. The closest he had ever come was when Abuela Claudia spanked him and Usnavi when they were little. His mom was too busy working to do much raising and he never knew his father. Come to think of it, Mr. Rosario was the closest thing he ever had had to a father. That alone almost made him submit to the punishment. But, he really, really didn’t want to get whooped.


	4. Kevin Dispensing Wisdom From His Dispatch Booth

Benny went back and forth for ten solid minutes before he came to realize that he had many good reasons to accept the spanking and only one not to: It was gonna freakin’ hurt! With that in mind, he undid his jeans button, walked over to the desk, and with a deep breath, pushed his pants down to his knees and threw himself over the desk. His torso landed with a thud and pushed a bunch of Mr. Rosario’s papers onto the floor. Benny winced at that and wondered if his carelessness would earn him extra. 

Meanwhile, Kevin breathed a sigh of relief when he heard the thud, knowing that it meant that Benny had accepted the spanking. He really didn’t want to cut the kid out of the family, but he knew he had to be firm with him. Thankfully, Benny had made the right decision. He briefly considered letting Benny stew for a minute to let the situation set in, but thought better of it. He didn’t want to give Benny an opportunity to change his mind. Besides, knowing Benny, there would be plenty of opportunities to perfect his discipline technique. 

Knocking quickly to alert Benny that he was entering, Kevin opened the door to see the kid bent over the desk waiting for him. At that moment, he felt a swell of pride at his surrogate son. It wasn’t easy to answer for your mistakes, especially when you had to answer for them with your backside. He decided to make this known to Benny by leaning over, giving his shoulder a gentle squeeze, and whispering, “I’m proud of you, mijo.”

With that, Benny fought to hold back tears before the spanking even started. Kevin decided to get right down to business, not wanting to draw this out any longer than needed. 

“Alright, since this is the first time, let’s go over the rules,” Mr. Rosario said while unbuckling and removing his belt. He had never given Nina more than a swat or two when she was small, so he was somewhat making this up on the fly but he could draw enough from his own childhood. His father was a son of a bitch but he sure knew how to give a hiding. “I don’t expect you to stay perfectly still, but I expect you to make a solid effort not to break out of position. If you’re actively trying to fight me or get out of position, I’ll be forced to give you a few licks to the thighs and you really don’t want that. Understood?”

“Yessir,” Benny said quickly, his heart rate ramping up as he heard these rules. As Mr. Rosario said this, he noticed that Benny had only pulled his pants down to his knees. With his foot, he quickly pushed the pants the rest of the way down to Benny’s ankles. Benny responded with a groan, bringing Kevin to his next point. 

“You can cry and yell all you want. In fact, I expect you will.” Benny gulped at that. He didn’t want to do either of those things.

“However,” Kevin continued, “You will not cuss me out. You will answer my questions with a “yes sir,” “no sir,” or another appropriately respectful answer. If you don’t, the same rules apply to moving out of position. Understood? ”

Again, Benny responded with a “yessir.”

“Okay, and this goes without saying but I don’t want to actually hurt you, so don’t put your hand back. I won’t purposely hit your hand with the belt, but if you throw it back, I may not be able to avoid it. But, if I do avoid it, you can expect a few good smacks to the back of your hand with my hand. This is a big deal to me as it’s a safety issue so you’ll also get a couple licks to your legs in addition. Claro?”

“Yessir.” 

“Okay, those are the main things so let’s go ahead and get started. Deep breath, son.” He gave the kid a light pat on the back before pushing up Benny’s shirt and bringing the belt down in the center of the boxer clad bottom in front of him.

“Ah, fuck!” Benny immediately yelled as soon as the belt collided with his barely protected bottom. He instantly regretted it when he felt Mr. Rosario lift up his boxers slightly and deliver two hard whacks to the backs of his legs. This time, he yelped and grunted and only swore in his head. Mr. Rosario placed his left hand on Benny’s back, partially to hold the kid still but mostly to offer a bit of comfort.

“Already with the cussing, Benito?” Mr. Rosario asked while moving back up to Benny’s bottom to deliver two more strokes. These two were equally hard and caused Benny to jerk forward.

“It won’t happen again, sir,” Benny practically yelped out. 

“It better not,” Mr. Rosario said, moving further down Benny’s bottom with two hard licks that caused Benny to stomp his foot. To his credit, however, Benny stayed in position. Only seven strikes in and he could already feel tears welling up in his eyes. 

Kevin was unsure of exactly how many swats to give Benny. The first idea that popped into his head was to give him one for every year of his age. However, since it was his first time doing this, he didn’t know exactly how hard to hit so he decided to judge it based on Benny’s reaction. Benny had not started openly crying yet, so Kevin knew they still had a ways to go. He decided that it would be a good point to start lecturing. 

“Benny, why are we here?” Mr. Rosario asked, pausing his swats to allow Benny to collect his thoughts. 

“Because I screwed up.” 

“More specifically?” Kevin asked with a quick flick of the belt to Benny’s sit spots.

“Argh…I popped a hydrant and hid from the cops in your dispatch.”

“Right,” Mr. Rosario said. He landed another lick, this time starting again at the top and hitting already sore skin. “And why is that wrong?”

“It’s illegal,” Benny yelled out in response to the swat on already spanked skin. “And it’s bad for your business. And. And…”

“You’re forgetting the most important one, Benny.” Another smack fell onto the center of Benny’s behind, causing him to start crying openly.

“I don’t know, sir.” Benny cried out miserably. As much as he hated to hear the kid cry, Kevin had to hide a sigh of relief at the sound. Now that Benny had finally let go, he could soon bring this punishment to a close. 

“If you were caught, you could have jeopardized your future. You have a bright future ahead of you, kid, and I won’t stand by and let you ruin it. I want you to think about that for these last four I’m going to give you.”

“I’m sorry, sir.” Benny wailed. 

“I know you are, son. Almost done.” After a quick pat to Benny’s back, Kevin snagged the waistband of Benny’s boxers with two fingers and pulled them down to meet his jeans. Benny said nothing but continued to cry into his arms. Kevin wanted Benny to remember this anytime he sat down so he aimed the next two swats at the kid’s sit spots. 

Benny gripped the table so he wouldn’t throw his hand back. Unfortunately, after the second to last lick, he wasn’t so lucky and seemingly without his controlling it, his hand flew back to cover his bottom.

“Oh, mijo. You only had one more to go.” Mr. Rosario said as grabbed the offending hand. He smacked the back of the hand twice, sharply but not harshly, just enough to teach Benny not to do it again. Then for the part he dreaded. He really didn’t want to add anymore to the punishment that Benny was obviously struggling so much with. Going by his rules, Benny had earned himself another two licks on top of the one still to come. 

Looking at the kid, he realized he couldn’t bring himself to deliver the last three smacks with his belt. He threw the belt to the side and planted three hard smacks, one to each leg, delivering the promised penalty for putting his hand back, and one dead in the center of Benny’s bottom, with his hand. With great relief, he quickly righted Benny’s boxers and began rubbing his back in slow circles, willing the kid to calm down. 

At first, Benny didn’t even register that the spanking had stopped. All he could feel was the pain in his butt that seemed like it would never end. After a few moments, he realized that the worst of the pain had subsided, leaving behind a dull burn. Benny slowly rose to his feet and batted at his tears with the back of his hands, hoping to save face with his future boss while forgetting that he was still standing in his boxers. That thought was quickly lost when the gruff older man pulled him into a tight hug. Mr. Rosario acted on instinct and pulled the kid’s head down to rest on his shoulder, letting him cry it out. 

After crying for a few moments more, Benny meekly mumbled, “Boss, you hit hard.”

Kevin laughed out loud at this and ruffled the kid’s hair. “Yeah, I guess I do. You better remember that for next time.”

With that, Benny pulled away and gingerly pulled up his jeans with a hiss. With a rueful grin, he rubbed his tender bottom and said, “I’ll remember, sir.”

With a final squeeze to Benny’s shoulder, Mr. Rosario replied, “And I’ll be here if you don’t.”


	5. What’d I Tell You About This Punk?

Benny’s cheeks flushed as he thought about his boss’ spankings on his walk home. He rounded the corner to his street and saw two familiar figures spray painting a brick wall and laughing. 

“Oh hell no,” he muttered as he grabbed the smaller of the pair by the back of his shirt collar. 

“What the fuck,” Sonny turned as he started to struggle. He craned his neck to face the man who had a hold on him, only to realize that it was Benny. He visibly relaxed before tensing again. Yeah, he wasn’t being mugged but facing Benny wasn’t much better. He knew that Benny had been telling Usnavi to be harder on him. His only hope was that Benny would drag him back to the bodega instead of taking matters into his own hands. 

“Scram,” Benny yelled at Graffiti Pete and with a sympathetic glance toward Sonny, the vandal ran off. Sonny too tried to run, but the firm grip on his collar held him back. As soon as Pete was out of sight, Benny released Sonny’s collar and instead wrapped that arm around the kid’s waist. Tucking the fifteen year old under his arm, he brought his hand down with a loud crack onto the seat of Sonny’s shorts. 

“What the fuck,” Sonny yelled again, except this time he knew exactly what was happening. 

“Watch it, little man,” Benny growled, “You’re in enough trouble as it is.” He landed two more hard swats that nearly took Sonny’s breath away before releasing the kid. Benny grabbed Sonny by the upper arm, but Sonny’s fight or flight mechanism kicked in and he struggled in Benny’s grip, trying to get away. Making the decision that he’d rather not bruise the kid’s arm trying to drag him back to the bodega, Benny flung the troublemaker over his shoulder so that Sonny’s backside and legs were facing forward. 

While Benny marched them back to the store, Sonny kicked his legs in protest. Benny gave Sonny’s left leg a sharp smack and growled again, “Sonny, you better stop kicking me or I swear to you, you’re gonna regret it.”

Sonny huffed but finally settled over Benny’s shoulder. Silently, Benny carried him the rest of the two blocks back to Usnavi’s store. During the short trip he thought about how to tell Usnavi that he wanted to be the one to punish Sonny. Well, wanted was a strong word. Walking in the doorway, he set Sonny firmly on his feet. With another firm smack, he barked at Sonny, “go plant your nose in the corner while I talk to your cousin.” 

Sonny quickly scurried off to do as he was told. Usnavi just stared at Benny. When he finally mustered up some words, he asked, “Benny, what the fuck?”

Benny had to laugh out loud at that, “Wow, the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. Your cousin already asked me that twice tonight. You wanna know what the kid has been up to?” 

“Sonny,” Usnavi groaned, throwing a glare at his cousin. 

“Caught him spray painting with that dude he’s been hanging around with.”

“Again? That punk! I swear when I get my hands on him—“ 

“Alright, easy tiger,” Benny interjected, “it wasn’t that long ago that I was “that punk” that you were hanging around with. We gotta focus on Sonny now.”

“What do you mean “we”? I appreciate you bringing him home and all but I’ll take it from here.”

“Yeah, about that. I was kinda thinking that I should spank him.”

“You? Why?” 

“Well, first, I’m the one who caught him. And second, I’ve known the kid since he was in diapers. Hell, I even changed his diapers a few times.”

“But he’s mi familia. I should do it.”

“You saying we ain’t family?” Benny asked with an expression bordering on hurt. 

“You know that’s not what I mean,” Usnavi assured him, “but we’re blood and he’s my responsibility.”

“And I love that kid like he was my own blood. He’s as much of a little brother to me as he is to you and you know that.”

“Well, I guess so. But what if you go too hard on him?”

“That brings me to my third point, I know how hard to go on him.”

“You do, huh?” Usnavi asked sarcastically, “How many times you done this?”

“That’s not the point. Bro, you were a good kid. You never got in trouble like this. I did. I know what it’s like to get a real whooping for a real screw up.”

“But what if you really hurt him?”

“I won’t. Sure, he’ll cry like a baby—“ 

“I’m still here you know,” Sonny complained from his spot in the corner. 

“Don’t make me come over there,” Benny yelled back and Sonny immediately straightened up. “As I was saying, he’ll cry and it will break both of our hearts, but he’ll learn his lesson. And you can even check out the damage when I’m done to make sure he’s not hurt.”

Usnavi pondered this for a second. He still didn’t like the idea of anyone beside him or Abuela punishing Sonny, but he had to admit that his methods hadn’t been working well lately. 

“Fine,” Usnavi acquiesced, “But no belt or nothing. Just your hand.”

“That’s fine. My hands are calloused from all the driving. I can still make him plenty sore.”

Usnavi sighed and said, “Well, sigue. You have my blessing.”

Benny clapped him on the shoulder and said, “Thanks for your trust in me, man. Now, I think you should wait out front. Less temptation for you to run in and stop the proceedings if you can’t hear what’s going on.”

“Benny,” Usnavi complained.

“Go,” Benny ordered playfully, “Or do I have to spank you too?” Usnavi went outside then. He wasn’t pretty sure that Benny wouldn’t dare, but sometimes you never knew with Benny.


	6. Up Shit’s Creek

“Alright kid, follow me,” Benny told Sonny as he led the kid into the back room. 

“Benny, please don’t spank me,” Sonny pouted, trying whatever he could to soften Benny up.

“Nice try, kid,” Benny said, rolling up his shirt sleeves to reveal his muscular biceps, “That little act may work on your cousin but it won’t work on me. C’mere.” Benny sat down on the same seat that Usnavi had hours earlier for this same conversation. Well, this time it would go much differently. 

“Benny, please! I’m sorry!” Sonny tried, once again giving his best kicked puppy expression. 

“Sonny,” Benny barked, losing patience, “if I have to come get you, you’re really not gonna like it. But I thought I demonstrated that to you already?” 

In for a penny in for a pound, Sonny tried again, “Can’t we talk about this?”

“Oh we’re gonna talk. But we’re gonna talk with you face down over my knee. Now, I was gonna let you keep your shorts on for the beginning but you’ve lost that privilege.” Benny rose from his seat and grabbed Sonny by the ear, dragging the kid over to stand by his knee. With a sigh, Benny again plopped down on the chair. 

“Drop ‘em,” Benny said, giving the loops in Sonny’s shorts a firm tug.

“C’mon, dude, let’s be reasonable,” Sonny argued. Benny responded by snaking his hand around Sonny’s back and bringing his hand down on the kid’s butt with a loud smack.

“Let’s get one thing straight. For the next few minutes, I’m not your “dude” or your “bro”. You’ll call me Benny or sir. Got that?”

“Yeah,” Sonny mumbled before yelping as Benny landed another swat to his behind.

“What was that?”

“Yes, Benny.”

“See, you are learning. Now, do what I told you in the first place and drop your shorts.”

Sonny sighed but didn’t say anything else. Finally, he did as he was told and unbuttoned his shorts, pushing them down to his knees. He looked at Benny for direction. 

“That’s better, but for the record, the correct response to an order is yes sir,” Benny said, raising an eyebrow at Sonny. 

“Yes sir,” Sonny said sullenly. 

“Good. Now, let’s get this over with. Get your butt over my knee.” Sonny knew he should try to make this as easy as possible for himself, but the kid always had a flair for the dramatic. Maybe he picked that up from Vanessa. He muttered the requisite “yes sir” and threw himself over Benny’s knees with as much force as possible. Benny grunted but made no other move. At least Sonny was obeying for once. He decided to level with the kid.

“Look, kid. I’m not gonna lie to you. This is gonna hurt. You’re not gonna be able to pout your way out of this like you do with Usnavi. I’m gonna keep going till you’re good and sore. You can cry and holler all you want. But when its over, everything will be forgiven. Understand?”

“Yes, Benny.” Sonny said hurriedly. Any hopes of Benny going easy on him had flown out the window. Before he could think more about what that meant, Sonny felt the first swat come down on the left side of his butt. Benny quickly settled into a pattern: left, right, center. Sonny squirmed and yelped but thankfully, for both their sakes, didn’t try to get up. He instead gripped onto Benny’s ankle and tried to distract himself from the pain.

After a dozen moderate smacks, Benny decided it was time to start talking while he spanked, “Okay, Sonny. Why are you getting this spanking?”

Sonny, for his part, had zoned out, trying to think of anything besides Benny’s big hand coming down on his butt. A sharp smack to the middle of his thigh, however, brought him out of his trance. 

“Sonny, I won’t ask you again. Why are you getting this spanking?”

“Ahh, because me and Pete were out spray painting.”

“Right,” Benny said, punctuating his message with an extra hard smack. “And I know you know why that’s wrong. Not only is it illegal, you and Usnavi work so hard on keeping this place looking presentable, and then you go and mess up another shop.”

“Argh, but Pete’s an artist,” Sonny complained.

“Now, I know you aren’t trying to argue with me from this position,” Benny said, landing two hard smacks to the tops of Sonny’s thighs before moving back up to his bottom.

“No, Benny,” Sonny said, regretting the fact that he didn’t quite know how to keep his mouth shut. He felt wetness pool around the corner of his eyes, but dammit he wasn’t crying!

As if by some magical intuition, Benny paused the spanking to reassure the kid. With a quick rub of Sonny’s back, Benny said softly, “Hey, little man, it’s okay to cry. I never made it through a whooping from Mr. Rosario without shedding a few tears.”

With that, Sonny gave up all fighting against tears and began crying softy. He would never admit it, but he liked it when Benny called him “little man” or “little dude” or sometimes even “little homie,” but that one was usually reserved for Usnavi. After Usnavi, Benny was like a second big brother to him. A big brother that apparently was not shy about making his displeasure known to his little brother’s backside. 

Benny’s chest tightened when he heard the quiet crying. Sonny’s prior fake crying act didn’t phase him in the slightest but these genuine tears were hard to hear. He suddenly was filled with tremendous respect for Mr. Rosario and all the older man did for him. Benny wanted nothing more than to end the spanking, but he knew that he had to make his point firmly enough that they wouldn’t be in this position again soon. 

Hardening his heart, Benny restarted the spanking even faster and harder than before, wanting to put an end to this quickly. All of Sonny’s pride flew out the window and he began to squirm and whine over Benny’s knee. Benny hooked one finger in the waistband of Sonny’s boxers, and peeked at the color of Sonny’s bottom. Both his bottom and sit spots were a dark pink, but not quite the bright red that Benny remembered from his own troublemaking days. Knowing that Sonny could take a bit more, Benny tugged the kid’s boxers down to his knees. 

Feeling the cool breeze on his backside, Sonny instantly shot a hand back to protect his backside. Benny sighed but decided to take a page out of Kevin’s book and smacked Sonny’s hand twice before firmly pinning it to the kid’s back. 

“Don’t put your hand back again,” Benny ordered.

Remembering what Benny had told him earlier about orders, Sonny wailed out a “yessir.”

“You’re doing great. Almost there,” Benny said, his stern facade breaking a bit. He brought his hand down again with a resounding crack, surprising himself at how much louder it sounded on bare skin. He set to work on painting the bottom before him a bright red. 

Sonny couldn’t believe how hot his butt felt. Abuela had spanked him when he was young, but after he was ten or so, she left it up to Usnavi. And of course, Usnavi’s spankings were nothing compared to Abuela’s, which were nothing compared to this. He had never been spanked nearly this hard or this long. While the actual time was more like six minutes, Sonny was sure that he had been over Benny’s knee for at least an hour. And he couldn’t believe that this was just Benny’s hand meeting his bottom.

“This better be the last time we have to have this particular conversation, kiddo,”  
Benny said bringing a little bit of sternness back into his voice. “If we do, I won’t let Usnavi talk me out of using something harder than my hand. 

“I’m sorry,” Sonny cried out, this time not just because he knew it was what Benny wanted to hear. He was truly sorry. “I’ll never screw up again.”

Benny almost chuckled at that, “I really doubt that, kid. I think that’s your sore butt talking. But, I’m glad you’re sorry. It would kill Usnavi and me if you got hurt or arrested. You’re like my kid brother, little man.” Driving his point home, Benny added a final three swats to each of Sonny’s sit spots as the kid wailed his little heart out. 

“You’re alright. You’re okay,” Benny practically cooed as he rubbed Sonny’s back. He wasn’t exactly sure what to do next. Unless it was a particularly hard or emotional whooping, Mr. Rosario was more of a gruff, clap on the shoulder type than a hugger. That isn’t to say Benny didn’t feel loved. He knew that Mr. Rosario preferred to show affection in smaller ways like patting him on the back or calling him “mijo.” Benny was pretty sure that Sonny, however, needed a little more reassurance than that. 

Benny rubbed Sonny’s back a minute more before pulling the kid’s boxers up and pushing his shorts completely off. He gently helped Sonny to stand up and Sonny quickly started to futilely try rub the sting out of his bottom. Acting on instinct, Benny pulled the skill crying kid down to sit on his lap, making sure Sonny’s sore butt was hanging in between his thighs. Sonny immediately curled into Benny’s chest and grabbed onto the older man’s shirt. 

“Hey, little dude. It’s okay. You were so brave,” Benny whispered while he waited for Sonny’s tears to subside, trying to hold back tears himself at the sound. Sonny clung to Benny for a few more minutes until his crying turned to sniffles and he realized that he was sitting in his boxers on his cousin’s-best-friend-turned-surrogate-big-brother’s lap. He climbed off Benny’s lap directed his gaze to the ground before getting the courage to look up at Benny. When he did, he immediately burst out laughing, the pain in his butt momentarily forgotten.

“Dude, were you crying?” Sonny teased Benny, pointing to the older man’s red rimmed eyes.

Benny quickly rubbed at his eyes, “No. Shut up.”

“Man, you fucking wailed on my ass and now you’re the one crying. How is that fair?”

Benny breathed a sigh of relief that Sonny was okay before grinning maliciously and giving Sonny’s sore backside a light smack. 

“Ow, way to kick a man when he’s down,” Sonny complained. 

“You deserved it. Making fun of me not ten minutes after I beat your ass,” Benny said with a smirk, “Now, c’mon. Let’s go show Usnavi that I didn’t kill you.” Benny wrapped his arm around Sonny’s shoulders before starting to guide him to the main room of the bodega. 

“Wait, my pants!” Sonny exclaimed before wincing at the thought of putting any more pressure on his butt.

“It’s up to you, kid, but no one’s around to see if you wanna leave them off.” Thinking better of it, Sonny decided to ditch his shorts and just fling them over his shoulder. 

Benny couldn’t help but chuckle. “Funny, those same pants were over my shoulder not too long ago.”

Sonny glared at him but made no more response. Benny returned his arm to Sonny’s shoulders and the pair went to find Usnavi. They found him sitting on the steps outside of the bodega biting his nails. Benny smacked the back of Usnavi’s head lightly. 

“Hey, I thought you were going to quit that,” Benny said, gesturing to Usnavi’s nails. 

“I was until you took so damn long,” Usnavi retorted before smothering Sonny in a hug, “What the hell was going on in there?”

“Jesus dude. You think I was just gonna smack his butt and send him on his way? Nah, me and the little dude had to have some bro time before we came out. Ain’t that right?”

Sonny nodded before pulling away from Usnavi’s arms, “Yeah, the big softy was crying and everything.”

Usnavi smirked at Benny but then turned serious and looked at Sonny. “Alright, mijo, you’re not gonna like this but I wanna see the damage.”

“What? Hells no!” Sonny yelled. “Bad enough I had one of you looking at my ass tonight. No way are both of you gonna look at it. I ain’t no baby that you gotta protect.”

Usnavi went to protest but before he could say anything, Benny softly  
growled, “Sonny, do what your cousin says or I’d be happy to take you into the back room again.”

Sonny straightened up at that and quickly said, “Yes, Benny.”

Usnavi quirked an eyebrow at Benny but didn’t say anything else. The three went back into the bodega and after a sharp look from Benny, Sonny faced the wall and pushed his boxers down to his knees with a, “Happy?”.

Benny fought against the urge to give the kid a good smack. It’s what Mr. Rosario would have done. But then again, Sonny wouldn’t be Sonny without a little attitude.

Usnavi grimaced slightly at the state of Sonny’s backside before relaxing. Sure, the kid’s butt looked sore but it wasn’t as bad as he had lead himself to believe while waiting outside. Sonny’s bottom was a dark pink color from the crest to his upper thighs, with the darkest red color concentrated on his sit spots. Noticeably, there was distinct a Benny sized handprint on the middle of Sonny’s right thigh.

“Alright, you can pull ‘em up,” Usnavi said with relief. As soon as Sonny was dressed, Usnavi once again wrapped him in a strong hug. As soon as Usnavi released him, Sonny was pulled into another hug, this time by Benny. 

“So, do I have your seal of approval?” Benny teased Usnavi, still holding the kid in his arms. 

“I guess so,” Usnavi acquiesced. “It doesn’t seem like he’ll be tagging again for a while.”

“You bet,” replied Benny, “especially since I told the kid that next time he does, I’ll be breaking out the spoon or whatever else I can find.”

“Benny!” both Usnavi and Sonny yelled. Benny just laughed. 

After a little more talking, Benny left the bodega with one final hug to Sonny and a slap on the back to Usnavi. As Usnavi and Sonny walked the few steps back to their apartment, Usnavi looked over at Sonny with a smirk and asked, “So, how did you earn that imprint of Benny’s hand on your leg?”

Usnavi just laughed as Sonny groaned, “Cuz!”


	7. Closest Thing to a Dad I’ll Ever Know

When he finally made it home that night, Benny reflected on the whole experience. He couldn’t believe how different it felt to be on the other side of the discipline that he had known for so many years. It was a funny feeling having a kid over your knee when it wasn’t that long ago that you were over someone’s knee. Benny remembered the first time Mr. Rosario put him over his knee like it was yesterday. It wasn’t the worst spanking of his youth, but it was by far the most memorable.

Flashback

“Go sit in the corner. Sixteen minutes.”

Sixteen year old Benny had been in a bad mood all day. He hadn’t slept well the night before, and as a result, the usually easy going kid had overslept and skipped breakfast to make it to work on time. The summer heat combined with his low blood sugar and lack of sleep made his temper rise even more. As a result, he had been increasingly snarky to Mr. Rosario all day. It started off with him answer orders with a “fine” instead of his usual, “yes, boss,” or “yes, sir” if he was in trouble. Later, he had started mumbling under his breath whenever he was told to do something. Kevin could see that the kid was grumpy but he couldn’t ignore the attitude much longer. His breaking point finally came when he had to remind Benny three times to refill the water cooler, one of his weekly jobs, and Benny rolled his eyes and responded with a “Yeah, yeah, I’ll get to it soon.”

Kevin didn’t know what was going on with Benny but knew he had to do something to fix the kid’s attitude. He thought maybe giving the kid some time to cool off would do the trick. Instead, after being ordered to the corner, Benny just looked at him indignantly. 

“You heard me,” Mr. Rosario said, not backing down, “grab a chair and plant your butt in the corner till you can figure out how to speak to me respectfully.”

Benny stood there in disbelief of being treated like he was six instead of sixteen before shouting, “This is bullshit. I ain’t gonna go sit in no corner.”

“Benjamin, you have till the count of three to start listening. 

“Now you’re gonna count at me? I ain’t in grade school anymore,” Benny fired back.

“One,” Kevin said calmly. 

“This is fucking ridiculous,” Benny yelled, going into full tantrum mode and stomping his foot for good measure.

“Two.”

“Fuck this, man.”

“Three,” Kevin announced, “Alright mijo, if you’re gonna act like a child, I’m gonna treat you like one.” He grabbed Benny firmly by the arm, knowing the kid would squirm and vocally protest, but would never actually refuse or physically fight a punishment. He sat down on the chair that he had intended for Benny to serve his time out on and pulled Benny to stand between his knees. Benny was a little confused why the older man was sitting. Mr. Rosario had always bent Benny over the desk to whoop him before.

“Alright, pants down,” Kevin ordered.

“No,” Benny responded petulantly. 

“Fine, I’ll do it for you, but the boxers are coming down too.” With that, Mr. Rosario unbuckled Benny’s belt and unbuttoned the pants that he had bought the kid a few months earlier. After pulling the kid’s pants down to his ankles, Kevin hooked his foot around Benny’s ankle, causing the sixteen year old to tip forward over the older man’s left knee.

After readjusting the kid so he was in the optimal position to be spanked, Kevin swiftly pulled the kid’s boxers down to his knees. 

When the kid finally got his wits about him, he yelled, “The hell are you doing?”

“Giving you a proper spanking, niñito. I told you I would treat you like a little child if you acted like one. Consider yourself lucky that you’re not getting your mouth washed out too, ” Mr. Rosario responded, bringing his hand down firmly on the bare bottom in front of him. 

“You can’t do this! You’re not my dad!” Benny yelled, causing Kevin’s hand to freeze mid smack. He didn’t know what to say to that. He had to admit that this revelation had hurt him. The kid had grown on him and he thought of him more as a son than an employee.

Instead of giving Benny another swat, Kevin gently placed his hand on Benny’s back.

“You’re right, mijo. I’m not your dad. But like it or not, you are part of mi familia and when you bent over my desk that day you chose to accept what comes with it. I want you to grow into a good man and part of that is kicking your ass when you screw up.” With that, Kevin continued spanking firmly, but not as harshly as he typically would. He knew the feeling of being treated like a little kid would affect Benny more than the pain in his bottom. To that end, the normally stoic kid started squirming over Mr. Rosario’s knee early on in the spanking.

“If you were my kid from day one, you would have learned early on not to speak to me like that,” Kevin scolded, increasing the strength behind his swats to punctuate the point. “But since you joined this family a little later, I guess we’re going to have to make up for lost time. You will not talk back to me. You will not be disobedient, especially when you’re already being punished. And you certainly will not treat any member with this family with the disrespect you showed me today. Entiendes?”

“Yes sir,” Benny sniffled, suddenly consumed with guilt. He felt horrible that he had treated the man who was the closest thing to a father he’d probably ever have so disrespectfully. 

“From now on,” Kevin continued, “if you act childishly and throw tantrums, you will go over my knee like a little kid.” He moved his hand down to Benny’s upper thighs to drive the message home. Benny started openly crying at that.

“I don’t appreciate spoken to rudely. I know you know that the correct response to an order is ‘yes sir’ not ‘fine,’ or ‘yeah yeah.’ And I certainly will not be cursed at. I don’t curse at you and I try to treat you with respect and I expect you to do the same.”

“Yes sir. I’m sorry,” Benny cried out, quitting fighting and hanging limp over Mr. Rosario’s knee. Kevin took that as a sign of acceptance and finished the spanking with four hard swats to each of Benny’s sit spots.

After pulling Benny’s boxers up, Mr. Rosario gently helped the kid to his feet. With the exception of the first spanking he had given kid, he usually just clapped the kid on the shoulder as a way of giving comfort. However, it was clear this time that Benny needed a little more reassurance after such an emotional spanking. The kid had hit a growth spurt recently and now had two inches on Kevin, so comforting was a little awkward but he would make it work. He pulled the kid into a tight hug and held him until the kid relaxed into his embrace.

The two stood there in silence until Benny finally spoke, his tears now under control, “I’m sorry I said you weren’t my dad. You’re the closest thing to a dad I’ll ever know.”

“Oh, mijo,” Kevin responded, tears in his eyes, holding the kid closer, “You don’t know how happy it makes me to hear that.”

“Now, you’ve still got a time out to serve,” Kevin said, releasing the kid from his hug and dragging the chair he had been sitting on over to the corner.

“Aw boss, but I’m so sore,” Benny said, flashing his best puppy dog eyes.

“Nice try, kid. If you wouldn’t have fought me, you wouldn’t have to sit on that sore butt right now. Now, go before I think you need to go back over my knee for a reminder about following orders,” Kevin said with a light swat to Benny’s butt, causing the kid to yelp.

“Yes sir, ” Benny gulped and hurried over to the corner, taking a deep breath before planting his sore butt on the hard chair. 

Kevin smiled affectionately at the kid. He came over behind the kid, said, “Guess you’re glad that I wasn’t around when you were little, huh? Because I have a feeling you would have spent a lot more time in the corner.”

Benny flushed but didn’t respond. With a final squeeze to Benny’s shoulder, Kevin moved to sit at his desk and do some paperwork, wanting to stay in the room reassure Benny that he wasn’t going anywhere.

Present

Benny laughed to himself as he thought about all the ways he was turning into Mr. Rosario: the insistence on saying “yes sir” during punishment, sending Sonny to the corner, ignoring the puppy dog eyes. He couldn’t believe that the old adage was coming true. He was turning into his (surrogate) father.


	8. To Doing Shots on the Weekend

For the next few weeks after his spanking from Benny, Sonny was remarkably well behaved. He was on time for work and curfew and didn’t give Usnavi nearly as much grief about doing things around the bodega. Of course, he still teased Usnavi about Vanessa but Usnavi was fine with that. He didn’t want to eliminate all of Sonny’s spunk. Although, he had to admit, the lack of arguing was a relief. 

Sonny’s good behavior streak came to a crashing halt one Saturday night. Sonny’s curfew was 10pm, but Usnavi when glanced over, the clock read 12:34 and Sonny still wasn’t home. Usnavi had left twelve voice mails on Sonny’s phone and now wanted to go out and find Sonny, convinced he was dead in a ditch somewhere. He had called Benny to help, but Benny told him to relax, breaking curfew is what 15 year olds do. Benny did however come over to wait with Usnavi and keep him calm and help deal with the kid when he did show up.

At 12:47, the two men heard rattling at the lock, as if someone was struggling with a key. Usnavi jumped up to open the door to see Sonny standing there. Usnavi quickly grabbed him in a hug and kissed his head, unwilling to let him go. Ever since the blackout, he was extra protective of his little cousin. 

“Cuz!” Sonny yelled excitedly, returning the hug with more affection than was typical for him. 

“Are you okay, mijo?” Usnavi asked, squeezing his cousin tightly.

“Fine, cuz,” Sonny said, slurring his words slightly.

“What’s wrong? Are you sick?” Usnavi asked, his panic returning.

Benny shook his head. “Dude, he’s drunk.”

“Drunk?” Usnavi yelled, releasing Sonny from the hug, turning him to the side and swatting him sharply. Benny’s eyes widened and he felt a little bit of pride for his best friend for finally taking charge. 

“You’re almost three hours late for your curfew, Sonny Mateo.” Usnavi continued, swatting him twice more. “Benny and I were worried sick and it turns out that you were out drinking. What were you thinking?”

Sonny just giggled softly in response and Benny felt it best to step in before Usnavi really blew his lid. 

“Alright, little man, let’s get you to bed,” Benny said, putting a supporting arm around the stumbling kid and leading him to his bedroom. Usnavi collapsed on the couch and put his head into his hands. Benny pushed Sonny to sit on his bed, pulled the kid’s shoes off, and helped him out of his jeans. Once the drunk fifteen year old was suitably ready for bed, Benny helped him under the covers and tucked him in. 

“Benny, am I in big trouble?” Sonny asked, drawing out the word “big.”

“Yeah, kid,” Benny said with a chuckle, “if Usnavi doesn’t wallop your ass, I sure will. But don’t worry about it tonight. Just sleep.”

“Kay,” Sonny said, shutting his eyes and curling up on his side. 

“Goodnight, little man,” Benny said with a gentle tug on Sonny’s ear.

As Benny walked out of the room, Usnavi entered to say good night. 

“‘Navi, you mad at me?” Sonny asked, looking up at his cousin sadly. 

“Honestly, I’m pretty frustrated. You had us really worried, mijo.”

“You gonna spank me?” Sonny asked, chewing on his bottom lip.

“Shh. We’ll talk about it tomorrow.”

“Kay. Love you, cuz”

“Love you too, mijo.” Usnavi kissed the top of Sonny’s head before flipping off the light and closing the door behind him. He plopped down on the couch and groaned. 

“What am I gonna do with him, man?” Usnavi asked.

“Easy, tomorrow morning you’re gonna read him the riot act and then you’re gonna blister his behind. 

“But how? I mean seeing him all worried about me being mad at him made me regret those three swats I gave him.”

“I know it’s tough, but it’s for his own good. You don’t want him falling down the wrong path. Or falling down the stairs because he’s drunk off his ass.”

“I know. I know. I’m just afraid I’m gonna break when I see those puppy dog eyes of his.”

Benny sighed, “Do you want me to do it?” He would have to get Usnavi to be firm with his cousin eventually, but maybe something as big as staying out past curfew and getting drunk wasn’t the one to start on.

Usnavi considered it for a moment. “No, I’ve gotta be the one to do it. He needs to respect me too. I can’t be a ‘wait till your father gets home’ parent.”

Benny smirked, “So if I’m the father in this little scenario, does that make you his mother?”

“Hardee har,” Usnavi said sarcastically. “But seriously though, what am I gonna do? I’m gonna cave.”

“No, you’re not. You’re gonna stay firm and think about what could have happened if he got alcohol poisoning or drank so much that he couldn’t make it home.”

“I guess I can do that,” Usnavi sighed. 

“If you want, I can stay. Help you with the lecture and talk you through the ass whooping part.”

“Would you?” Usnavi asked. He hated to ask so much of his friend but he knew Benny wouldn’t offer if he didn’t really care about Sonny.

“Yeah, man,” Benny replied, “You know I’d do anything for you and the kid. Now, let’s get some shut eye. We got a long day of butt busting ahead of us.”


	9. So You Stayed Out All Night

At 8 am the next morning, Benny opened his eyes and surveyed his surroundings before remembering why he had spent the night on Usnavi’s couch. He immediately groaned, knowing what was in store for him. Hearing the groan, Usnavi came in with a coffee and a plate of breakfast for Benny. 

“Waffles?” Benny asked, referring to Sonny’s favorite food.

Usnavi shrugged. “He’s gonna need some comforting afterward.”

Benny grinned. Comforting was definitely more of Usnavi’s forte than disciplining. “So what’s the plan for today?”

Usnavi rubbed his neck. “I was kinda hoping you’d tell me.”

“This is your show, dude. I’m just here for moral support.”

“Fine,” Usnavi mumbled, “Let’s start from the beginning. I figure we’ll get him up around nine and get him to eat something.”

“Waffles?” Benny asked.

“Not till afterward. He can have toast and orange juice or milk. No coffee or nothing. I figure if he’s hungover we’ll have to coax him into eating it.”

“And by coax of you mean smack his behind?”

“Maybe. And then after he’s fed, we’ll tag team reading him the riot act. And then I’ll spank him.”

“Okay, Benny agreed. “You’re gonna have to take his pants down, you know?”

“Yeah,” Usnavi muttered. 

“And I really think you should consider using something other than your hand. Give him a real whooping.”

“Benny,” Usnavi groaned.

“This is big, dude. He’s gotta know that you mean business. Mr. Rosario would have used his belt on me but I know you’re not about that. What about one of his sneakers?” Benny asked, looking meaningfully at Sonny’s Chuck Taylors that were strewn carelessly on the floor.

Usnavi considered the suggestion. “But I’ve never been hit with a sneaker. I don’t know how much it’ll hurt.”

Benny thought about this for a moment before he had an idea. He picked up the sneaker and looked at Usnavi, “Turn around.”

Usnavi was confused for a second before the realization of what Benny intended to do dawned on him. He sighed and reluctantly turned around, letting Benny bring the shoe down smartly on his ass.

“Ow, dammit!” Usnavi yelled, immediately reaching back to rub the sting out.

Benny chuckled. “Now you know what it feels like.”

Usnavi glared at him. “Fine. But that thing fucking hurts. I’m not hitting him with that.” 

“You don’t have to use it the whole time. Just a few at the end to drive the point home. He really screwed up and you gotta make him feel it.” 

With that, Usnavi thought about the events of the night before and felt his blood pressure rising again. He had been so worried about Sonny and the kid was out getting drunk. What if he’d gotten mugged on his way home? Or what if he had passed out somewhere?

Benny saw the steam coming out to Usnavi’s ears again as it had the night before. “Breathe, man. He’s alright. He’s safe at home sleeping in his bed. You’re job now is to make sure he doesn’t do it again.”

Hearing that, Usnavi took a deep breath and said, “You’re right. I’ll give him a few with the sneaker at the end. But you’re gonna have to hold me to that. I’m gonna try to cave.”

“You got it, man.” The pair ate the rest of their breakfast in companionable silence before cleaning up. When they were done, the clock read 8:57. Usnavi groaned. It was time to get on with it. 

Sharing a meaningful look, the pair headed to Sonny’s bedroom. The two took different approaches to waking the kid up. Usnavi went over to Sonny’s bed and gently shook his shoulder, saying, “Time to wake up, mijo.”

Benny, on the other hand, went straight to the curtains, pulling them back and letting the sun shine in on the hungover kid before booming, “Rise and shine, kiddo.”

“Ten more minutes,” Sonny groaned in response, turning over onto his stomach and covering his head with his pillow. He had apparently forgotten how much trouble he was in. Unfortunately for him, this caused his bottom to be in prime swatting position, which Benny took advantage of, delivering two swats to the boy’s behind. Usnavi winced but didn’t protest.

“Up. Now.” Benny growled, and Sonny quickly did what he was told. As he hopped to his feet, he suddenly remembered what had happened last night. How could he have been so stupid?

“Alright, Sonny. Here’s how it’s gonna go. First, you’re gonna eat something without complaint. You’re gonna answer all of our questions without argument. Then, once we have the full story, we’ll talk about consequences. Claro?” Usnavi asked, trying to start the morning on a firm note.

“Yeah, cuz,” Sonny mumbled.

“What was that?” Benny asked, knowing that he had already talked about answering questions respectfully.

“Yes, Usnavi.” Sonny said, realizing that “cuz” was on the list with “dude,” “bro” and “man.” He thought this was a little unfair considering that Benny still called him “little man” when he was in trouble, but wisely decided not to bring it up. Besides, he kinda liked the affectionate nickname. 

Sonny threw on some sweatpants and the three went into the kitchen, Benny with a firm hand on Sonny’s shoulder. Sonny sat down at the small table in front of the plate of toast and glass of orange juice. Usnavi had also placed two ibuprofen next to his glass which Sonny swallowed readily. He also couldn’t help but notice that Usnavi had liberally covered the toast in grape jelly, his favorite. Although he was slightly nauseous from his first ever hangover, Sonny forced himself to eat, not wanting to add disobedience to his list of crimes, especially with Benny around. As soon as Sonny was done eating, Benny tossed his plate in the sink and Usnavi grabbed his bicep and led him to the couch. Benny and Usnavi sat side by side on the coffee table, facing Sonny. 

Usnavi crossed his arms and said, “Okay, Sonny, habla. I wanna know everything from when you left the bodega last night to when you stumbled through the front door.”

“Umm, so as you know, I left the store at 6,” Sonny started nervously, “and I walked over to Bennett Park to meet up with some of the guys.”

“Was Graffiti Pete with you? I swear to God, Sonny—“ Usnavi scolded.

“No, no, honest. It was some guys from school. Pete never lets me drink with him. Says I’m too young.” Usnavi sighed, feeling the smallest bit of respect for the 18 year old that Sonny was always following around. 

“Go on,” Benny ordered.

“So yeah, the guys and I hung out for a while, got some food and stuff. Then around nine, one of the guys said he was gonna text his big brother to get us some 40s. I thought I was only gonna try a little and then be home before curfew, but next thing I knew, it was past midnight and I was wasted off my a—” he trailed off with a stern look from Benny. 

“Butt,” Sonny amended, “and one of the older guys was walking me home. He didn’t wanna get in trouble, so he just kind left me at the doorstep and bolted. And then you know what happened from there.”

Both of the older men were silent for a moment before Usnavi started in, “Do you have any idea how worried we were, Sonny Mateo?”

Sonny winced internally. The fact that Usnavi had used his middle name twice in so many hours did not bode well for him. “Yes sir. Lo siento.”

“Not as siento as you’re gonna be,” Benny chimed in. He wasn’t sure if that made any grammatical sense but he was sure Sonny got the message.

“Did you even consider the consequences at all?” Usnavi added, ignoring Benny’s poor attempt at Spanish. “What if that kid hadn’t have walked you home? What if you had gotten alcohol poisoning? What if you had gotten mugged, being out so late? You have a curfew for a reason. Jesus, Sonny.”

“And on top of that, you scared Usnavi half to death. He called me up, convinced you were hurt, to help find you. I had to talk him down from waking up half the barrio to look for you. And I didn’t tell him this last night, but at one am I was gonna let him start calling people to help look for you,” Benny interjected. 

“Yes sir,” Sonny said, looking down at his bare feet. 

“Look at me, mijo,” Usnavi said, grabbing Sonny’s chin and tilting his head up. “I can’t lose you. You know I don’t have many rules, but the ones I do have are to keep you safe and teach you to be responsible.” Usnavi released Sonny’s chin and pulled him into a tight hug, not wanting to think about what could have happened if Sonny hadn’t come home last night.

“Alright, enough with the lovey-dovey stuff,” Benny interrupted, “Let’s get this over with so we can get to the hugging and all that.”

“You’re right.” Usnavi said, pulling away and trying to make his voice sound firm again. “Since it’s become abundantly clear to me that despite your rather dramatic protests, my spankings have had little impact on you, Benny is going to help me through this.”

Sonny blushed at both the thought of Benny witnessing his spanking and that Usnavi knew about his games. 

“I think it goes without saying that we’re gonna bust your butt. Beyond that, you’re grounded, nowhere except home, school, and the bodega for the next two weeks. When your shifts are over, you’ll sit in the store and do your homework where I can keep an eye on you until I close the store, entiendes?”

“Si, Usnavi.”

“After that, your curfew is moved till 8 pm till I can trust you again.”

“But, cuz—“ Sonny whined. Like him, most of his friends had after school jobs and he’d barely get to see them with this curfew. On hearing Sonny’s protest, Benny swiftly stood up, hauled Sonny to his feet, and planted two firm smacks to the kid’s behind before pushing him back down.

“Sonny, what two rules did you just break?” Benny asked sternly.

“No arguing and only call you guys Usnavi, Benny, or sir, when I’m being punished. Do I gotta do that the whole time I’m grounded?” Sonny asked Benny.

Benny glanced meaningfully at Usnavi, letting him make the decision, “No, Sonny. I won’t put up with too much lip while you’re grounded but I won’t make you stick to those titles.”

“Thanks, ‘Navi, ” Sonny said, glancing at Benny to see if he could get away with that name. Benny let it slide. 

“Anything I’m forgetting?” Usnavi asked Benny. 

“Yeah,” Benny said, grabbing Sonny’s chin, “You scare your cousin and me like this again, I’m gonna take my own turn whooping your behind, regardless of what Usnavi does, feel me?”

“Yes sir,” Sonny replied.

Benny released Sonny’s chin and said, “Alright boys, let’s get this show on the road.”


	10. Sonny’s Got Role Models

Sonny’s heart raced. He had no idea what to expect. With Benny here, he knew he couldn’t charm or pout his way out of this punishment. With his luck, Benny would just smack him some more if he tried. He just hoped that Usnavi wasn’t as tough as Benny was when he got caught tagging. But on the other hand, he hoped Usnavi wasn’t so soft that Benny felt he had to pull him over his knee for round two. Benny hits hard!

Usnavi stood up and took a seat on the couch next to Sonny. Benny perched on the arm of the sofa, high enough up that he would be able to both Sonny’s face and bottom. 

“Alright, Sonny, over, ” Usnavi said. Sonny sighed and bent over his cousin’s lap, resting his torso on the couch and grabbing a pillow to smother his face in. Usnavi grabbed the waistband of his cousin’s sweatpants, pulling them down to the kid’s knees but leaving the boxer-briefs in place for the time being. 

Usnavi took a deep breath and brought his hand down with a light smack. It was harder than his past spanking attempt but still barely stung. Benny had to stifle a snort of laughter. 

“You gotta do it harder than that, man,” Benny urged, “Like as hard as you did last night.”

“But he had jeans on then,” Usnavi argued, bringing his hand down slightly harder. 

“Yeah, and you took his pants down for a reason. You gotta go tougher on him.” Sonny groaned internally. If he was gonna get spanked, he would rather get it done quickly. Yeah, the smacks hadn’t really hurt yet but he had a feeling he’d be there for a long time while Usnavi figured this whole thing out. 

Usnavi brought his had down finally hard enough to actually deliver a real sting. “Better,” Benny said, “But try not to cup your hand so much. The flat of your hand will hurt more.”

Usnavi glared at Benny but took his advice. He kept the same strength up and continued swatting. Unlike Benny, Usnavi didn’t follow a distinct pattern, instead swatting randomly all over Sonny’s bottom and the tops of his thighs. Benny nodded his approval. After a dozen smacks, Sonny was certainly not comfortable, but he wasn’t yet close to tears. 

“You think we’re almost done?” Usnavi asked Benny. Sonny was hopeful for a moment, but realized that there was no way Benny would release him. This time, Benny couldn’t contain his laughter. 

“Hell no. He’s barely feeling it yet. Take a peek at the color of his butt.” Usnavi stuck two fingers into Sonny’s waistband and glanced at his bottom. He was surprised that the kid’s bottom was barely pale pink. 

“Maybe you should bare his behind. That way you can see what you’re doing,” Benny suggested. 

Usnavi sighed, “Yeah, you’re probably right.” He gently pulled down Sonny’s boxer-briefs to his knees. Sonny tensed as he felt the small bit of protection being removed from his butt.

Hardening his heart, Usnavi brought his hand down on now bare skin, wincing at the sound. He expected a bright red mark to be left in his hand’s wake, but instead it was just a light pink. Upon this realization, he started again in a rhythm, continuing to land his swats randomly. Sonny started to react, drumming his feet softly against the floor. Both Usnavi and Benny felt pangs of sympathy at that. 

“Listen to me good, Sonny,” Usnavi started lecturing, “You are way too young to be drinking. When you’re eighteen, we’ll talk about you having a beer or two on occasion, but not before that, entiendes?”

“Yes sir,” Sonny said, not crying yet but definitely on the verge. Usnavi targeted each side of Sonny’s bottom with four firm smacks in a row, causing Sonny to cry out for the first time.

“Enough, Usnavi, stop,” Sonny groaned out. Benny’s temper flared slightly and he reached over and planted two almighty smacks, one to each of Sonny’s thighs.

“It’s obviously not enough if you think you can order your cousin around,” Benny growled. Usnavi continued spanking, targeting his attention to Sonny’s sit spots.

“And being late ain’t gonna fly with me anymore, kid. Whether its late to work or curfew, it’ll end you up back here, upended over my knee,” Usnavi said, surprising himself with how firm he sounded. He continued raining firm swats to the kids backside while Sonny squirmed over his knee. 

When Sonny felt like he could no longer help it, he put his legs up to shield his bottom, causing the pajama pants that were around his ankles to come completely off. Benny rose to go push Sonny’s feet back down and deliver a few well placed smacks to his legs, but Usnavi stopped him with a raised hand.

“I got this,” Usnavi said, determinedly. He pushed Sonny’s legs back down and swung his own leg over Sonny’s, keeping him trapped. He then delivered a sharp crack to Sonny’s left thigh, causing Sonny to yelp.

“No more trying to protect your bottom,” Usnavi scolded, “You know you earned this, right?”

“Si, Usnavi,” Sonny sniffled, the first tears starting to fall, breaking both of the older men’s hearts. At the sound, Benny gestured to the sneaker and mouthed the word, “ten.”

Usnavi picked up the shoe by the heel and let it rest on Sonny’s dark pink bottom. Sonny winced at the pressure on his already sore butt. He didn’t know what Usnavi had, but he was sure it was gonna hurt more than his hand. His only consolation was that it might mean that the spanking was almost over.

“Alright, Sonny. Be brave,” Usnavi said, unable to stop himself from providing the kid with some reassurance. He brought his hand up high, but hesitated, not wanting to cause any more pain to his already crying cousin.

“You can do this,” Benny told Usnavi, “Same strength as before.” Hardening his heart, Usnavi brought the shoe down smartly on the bottom in front of him, ignoring the wail he got in response. 

“Please don’t make me do this again,” Usnavi implored Sonny, bringing the sneaker down twice more. Sonny’s squirming became more desperate, but Usnavi held him firmly in place.

Usnavi smacked him again, twice on each sit spot, ensuring Sonny wouldn’t sit comfortably for a while. Sonny stopped fighting and went limp over Usnavi’s lap, wailing into the pillow. Usnavi sent an imploring look to Benny, wanted to end the spanking then and there. 

“Three more little dude,” Benny announced, preventing Usnavi from backing out, “You’re doing great.” He reached down and held one of Sonny’s hands, giving him a gentle squeeze of reassurance. 

With a few tears sliding down his face, Usnavi landed a final three rapid fire smacks to the center of Sonny’s bottom before tossing the shoe across the room.


	11. Working Harder, Learning Spanish

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another Benny-Kevin chapter. I have a bit of a soft spot for those two.

Benny looked at the pair and his heart broke. Not only did he have a well-spanked kid to console, but he also had to take care of an equally distraught Usnavi. Usnavi began rubbing Sonny’s back frantically, willing the kid to calm down. Benny reached over to card his hand softly through Sonny’s hair.

“Oh, mijo, I’m sorry,” Usnavi said.

“Hey, stop it,” Benny scolded, “He earned the punishment he got.” Benny patted Sonny’s bottom meaningfully and Sonny whined in response. 

Usnavi glared at Benny but didn’t try to apologize again, instead focusing on comforting.

“You’re okay, mijo. Estas bien,” Usnavi cooed, “It’s all over now. You were so brave.”

“You did good, little homie,” Benny agreed, returning his hand to Sonny’s hair. 

Once the worst of the crying abated, Usnavi pulled Sonny’s boxer briefs up, wincing as Sonny yelped in response to the fabric touching his sore bottom. Usnavi was unsure of what to do next so he looked to Benny for help. Benny hopped of the couch and plucked Sonny up off Usnavi’s lap, pulling him into a firm hug. Sonny immediately clung to him, burying his face into Benny’s t-shirt. Benny snaked one of his feet in between Usnavi’s feet, pushing his legs apart and creating a place for Sonny to sit. Gently, Benny lowered Sonny down to sit on Usnavi’s lap, his butt hanging between Usnavi’s thighs. Relieved to have his cousin back in his arms, Usnavi wrapped his arms around the kid, pulling him tight to his chest and rocking him back and forth slowly.

Slowly but surely, Sonny stopped crying but remained holding onto his cousin. Knowing how to make the kid laugh, Benny said, “Hey Sonny, looks like I’m not the only one who cries when busting your butt.”

Sonny looked up at Usnavi and let out a small giggle, “Dude, you too?”

“You wanna talk about tears, smart ass?” Usnavi said, smiling at his cousin who seemed to be bouncing back from the spanking. 

“Hey, little man, if you’re hungry, I think your cousin made you waffles.”

Sonny looked at Usnavi and smiled. Usnavi rolled his eyes and muttered, “So spoiled.”

Benny chuckled and said, “Well, c’mon. Bring a pillow for your sore ass.”

Sonny blushed at that but otherwise did as he was told. When they reached the kitchen, Benny grabbed Sonny into a tight hug and announced, “My turn.”

Benny and Sonny remained that way for a couple seconds before Benny was willing to let go. After he was released, Sonny looked at Usnavi and complained, “Jesus, and I thought Benny hit hard. Turns out you’re the mean one.”

Usnavi narrowed his eyes and said, “Hey, Benny suggested whooping your butt with his belt. You better thank me.”

Sonny’s hand immediately shot back to cover his bottom before blushing fiercely at the action. He asked, “What did you whack me with anyway?”

Usnavi said nothing but let his gaze wander to Sonny’s sneaker on the floor. Sonny glared at him.

“My own sneaker? Dude, that’s just wrong.” Sonny said, placing the cushion on his chair and gently sat down, wincing at the impact. 

Benny reached over and ruffled the kid’s hair.

“Oye, not the hair, cabron!” Sonny complained, swatting at Benny’s hand. Benny in turn let out a deep laugh, earning him confused looks from both De la Vegas.

Flashback

Benny was sixteen years old and had been working at the Rosario’s dispatch for three months. Kevin didn’t trust the boy to drive clients yet, despite the fact that he had his driver’s license, so he mainly helped with paperwork and cleaning the cars. The drivers had taken a liking to Benny and would stop in the dispatch and chat with him before going out on calls. That day, Benny was supposed to be sweeping the back office when one of the younger drivers, Tomas, came in to talk with him. 

“Yo, Benny-boy! What up? Like the new ‘do,” Tomas said, running his finger over the new tramlines that Daniela had shaved into Benny’s hair.

“Hey, cabron, watch the hair,” Benny yelled. He had picked up a few choice words from his time with the drivers.

“What was that, Benjamin?” Mr. Rosario said, walking into the office.

“N-nothing, sir.”

“Tomas, don’t you have somewhere else to be?” Mr. Rosario asked quietly, shooting the twenty three year old a look. The driver wisely bolted from the room, wanting to be nowhere near this situation when Benny revealed where he learned to talk like that. 

“Who taught you that word?” Mr. Rosario questioned with his hands on his hips .

“Um I don’t know, sir. One of the drivers. I don’t remember which one. They’ve taught me a bunch of words,” Benny admitted nervously.

“Did they also teach you that they were not to be used in polite company and especially not yelled at work where a client could potentially hear you?” 

Benny didn’t know how to answer him so he looked down at his shoes and squirmed nervously. Kevin sighed and began rifling through his papers until he gathered what he was looking for. He set down a notepad, a pen, and a Puerto Rican newspaper down on the desk. Benny looked at him questioningly. 

“Stay here, por favor,” Mr. Rosario said sternly before walking into the dispatch bathroom. A moment later, he returned with a new bar of soap in hand and Benny’s stomach dropped, knowing what he was in for.

“Alright, Benny, here’s how this is gonna go. You’re gonna get your mouth washed out with soap. And then, since you’re so eager to learn Spanish, you’re gonna copy this newspaper and see if you can’t learn some better vocabulary.” 

“Aw, Mr. Rosario. You don’t hafta—“ 

“Ay, none of that,” Kevin said, giving his surrogate son a firm swat to cut off any further arguments, “Be thankful I’m not wearing you out. Now, sit down and open up.” 

Benny sat down at the desk and looked up at Mr. Rosario pleadingly. Mr Rosario fixed him with a firm glare, waiting for him to open his mouth. Once Benny parted his lips slightly, Kevin took a firm hold of his chin and pushed the soap in, making sure to wiggle the bar around to thoroughly coat the inside of the kid’s mouth. Benny grimaced at the taste but made no attempt to spit out the bar, not wanting to push his luck at not getting his butt whooped.

“You can take it out in five minutes. In the meantime, I suggest you start writing. No rinsing until you’re done copying the whole thing.” Benny glared at the older man but luckily for him, the soap made it impossible for him to talk back. 

“I can make it ten if you’d rather,” Kevin said sternly. Benny quickly shook his head and started writing. 

“Much better,” Kevin said, taking a seat across the desk from Benny and picking up another newspaper to pass the time. Benny continued writing for two straight minutes before the taste of the soap made his eyes water, preventing him from reading the words. As the kid batted away tears with his left hand while trying to write with the other, Mr. Rosario felt a pang of guilt. He looked down at his watch. Two and a half minutes to go. 

After four minutes, Benny could no longer see enough to write. He simply sat and let the tears stream down his face, deciding to wait out his time before trying to write again. Kevin wanted so badly to cave and let the kid off early, but knew it would set a bad precedent.

Finally, five minutes passed and to the relief of both men, Mr. Rosario pulled the soap out of Benny’s mouth. Benny grimaced as the soap scraped his teeth on the way out but was thankful to have the object of torture out of his mouth.

“You can spit into that trashcan but no rinsing until you’re done with the second part of your punishment,” Kevin said. Needing no further encouragement, Benny spit the soap residue out of his mouth and futilely tried to wipe the taste out with his fingers. 

After watching the kid struggle for a moment, Mr. Rosario said, “Alright mijo, that’s enough. You’re not going to be able to get the taste out that way. Get to writing so you can rinse out your mouth.”

With a dramatic sigh, Benny returned to the task at hand. He continued copying the newspaper in his tight scrawl, trying to focus on the words instead of the taste in his mouth. Mr. Rosario returned to his own newspaper, looking up every few minutes to make sure the kid was still writing.

“Legibly, por favor,” Mr. Rosario scolded gently when he saw Benny’s handwriting start to get sloppy. Benny wanted to glare at the older man, but he could guess how well that would go. Instead, he just gripped the pen tighter and continued writing. 

Benny wrote for another fifty minutes, only stopping occasionally to wipe his mouth as saliva dripped out. He didn’t want to swallow any of the nasty tasting soap. Finally, after copying the last sentence, he slammed his pen down victoriously. When Kevin looked up at him with a raised eyebrow, Benny backtracked and announced respectfully, “I’m done, sir.”

“Lemme see,” Kevin responded. Benny handed over the papers and Kevin scanned it quickly. Other than a little sloppiness in the middle, the words were legible enough to read so he wouldn’t make Benny redo any of it.

“Go ahead and rinse,” Kevin permitted. Benny shot up as soon as he heard, running into the bathroom and filling his mouth with faucet water. The worst of the taste had faded over the time he was writing, but he was still glad to rinse. 

When Benny returned from the bathroom, Mr. Rosario took pity on the kid pulled a few dollars out of his wallet and handed them to Benny. “Run over to the bodega and go get us a couple of cokes.”

Benny’s face lit up, “Thanks, Boss”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Mr. Rosario said with a wink, “I’m just thirsty.”

Benny ran out the door, eager to get the soda and see if Usnavi was working.

Present Day

“Yeah, and then he stayed talking to me till Mr. Rosario yelled for him and threatened to drag him back by his ear,” Usnavi laughed.

“Point is, I oughta wash your mouth out for calling me that,” Benny said to Sonny.

“I put hot sauce in his mouth one time when he was twelve or so for cursing,” Usnavi added.

“I don’t know what your goal was there, cuz. I’m Dominican. Hot sauce don’t bother me,” Sonny laughed while Usnavi glared at him. 

“I let you eat popsicles all day after that!” Usnavi yelled. He stood up and grabbed a bottle of soap from the kitchen sink.

“W-what are you doing?” Sonny asked, suddenly nervous. 

“Making up for lost time,” Usnavi grinned mischievously, “Now open up.”

“Hells no!” Sonny exclaimed, shooting up from his chair and throwing the pillow that he had been sitting on at Usnavi. Benny just laughed at the two cousins as Usnavi teasingly chased Sonny around the apartment with the bottle of soap.


	12. Freezing in Early December

A month after the drinking incident, Sonny was off grounding and pretty much back in Usnavi’s good graces. He had been pretty good at keeping the arguing at bay and adhering to his new earlier curfew. Benny was still more swat-happy than Usnavi, swatting Sonny occasionally for what Benny called his “rude attitude.” Usnavi had become more accustomed to just sending Sonny to the corner when he was being fresh. Sonny was still Sonny so one of the two happened at least every couple days.

“Yo, cuz, I’m leaving!” Sonny called, eager to leave work on a Friday night and go hang out with his friends.

“Jacket.” Usnavi ordered, entering from the back room and holding out a light sweatshirt to his cousin. It was a windy, cold December day, but Sonny as usual, was in a tank top and shorts.

“Nah, man. It’s even not that cold out,” Sonny said, rolling his eyes. They had this argument practically every day from October to March.

“Sonny,” Usnavi said, raising an eyebrow and extending the sweatshirt. Normally, at this point, they would argue until either Usnavi gave up or practically wrestled Sonny into the coat. 

“Chillax. I’ll be fine.” 

“Sonny. Ahora.” Usnavi said sternly. 

“Cuz,” Sonny whined, determined not to put on the stupid jacket, no matter what Usnavi said. Usnavi decided to try another approach. 

“You have till the count of three to put it on or your butt’s getting swatted,” Usnavi said, staring down his little cousin. “One.”

Sonny remained firm, staring back and daring Usnavi to do something. Benny wasn’t there and he didn’t really believe that his cousin would follow through on his own. 

“Two.” Sonny just crossed his arms and huffed.

“Alright, that’s three,” Usnavi sighed, grabbing Sonny by the arm and turning him to the side. Looking around to make sure know one was in sight, Usnavi tucked the kid under his arm and smacked Sonny’s backside twice before releasing him. 

“Ah, dammit, cuz. You don’t gotta do that. Benny ain’t even here.” Sonny exclaimed, jumping up and rubbing his butt. 

“Benny is not the only authority figure around here,” Usnavi said as sternly as he could, “Now, put this on. Now, por favor.”

Sonny huffed but put the jacket on, glaring at his cousin as he did. Once the jacket was on, Usnavi kissed his cousin on the head and said, “Go on, get out of here.” 

Sonny just muttered under his breath and walked out of the store while Usnavi went back to checking lotto numbers. When he looked up, Usnavi saw Sonny shoving his sweatshirt in the potted plant they had recently put outside Abuela’s stoop. Usnavi felt his blood boil. He just couldn’t get through to the kid about the importance of proper outerwear. It was a sweatshirt, for god’s sake, not a parka.

Usnavi’s first instinct was to call Benny and have him come over, but he thought back on what Sonny said. Sonny needed to know that Usnavi wouldn’t spank him just when Benny was around. Discipline wasn’t about appearing tough in front of Benny; it was about doing what was in Sonny’s best interest.

Usnavi decided in that moment that he needed to get firm with Sonny about dishonesty. If Sonny came in without the jacket on or fessed up to hiding it, he would just give him a few smacks and send him to bed without TV or video games. On the other hand, if Sonny tried to come in and act like he had been wearing the coat the whole time, he was going to get a spanking. Since Sonny’s curfew was still eight after the whole drinking fiasco, he had to come into the store to check in with Usnavi at that time.

At 7:58, Sonny waltzed into the bodega donning the sweatshirt. 

“Hey, Son. Whatcha been up to?”

Sonny shrugged, “Just hanging out with Pete.”

Usnavi resisted the urge to lecture Sonny about Pete again, knowing it would land on deaf ears and deciding to focus on the issue at hand, asking, “Jacket keep you warm enough?”

“Yeah, cuz. Although, I think I’m the only kid my age who’s still told what to wear.”

“Huh, that’s funny. I didn’t know it could keep you warm from it’s place in that bush,” Usnavi replied, gesturing to Sonny’s hiding spot. Sonny turned beet red as he tried to come up with an explanation on the fly.

“Uh, well, you see—“ Sonny tried before Usnavi cut him off.

“Save it. You’re already in enough trouble for lying already. Now I’ll be home in about an hour. Go take a shower, get ready for bed, and then go wait for me in your room. You and I are gonna have a conversation about lying and not doing what you’re told,” Usnavi said, eyeing Sonny meaningfully. 

“C’mon cuz. It’s not that big of a deal!”

“Ahora Sonny. Unless you want to start this conversation here,” Usnavi said, gesturing to the few people wandering around the back of the bodega. 

“I’ll just be going then,” Sonny said practically sprinting home to avoid going over Usnavi’s knee in the middle of the bodega. Once he made it home, he thought about watching TV for a while, knowing that Usnavi wouldn’t be home for a bit. On second thought, he figured maybe a hot shower would be good. He was kinda cold.

After showering, Sonny started to get ready for bed. He stood there in his boxers, contemplating what to put on. He usually just slept in just his boxers, but if Usnavi was planning to spank him (and he was) he thought the more protection the better. Pulling on his thickest sweatpants, Sonny also grabbed an old t-shirt of Usnavi’s that he often slept in when he was younger, hoping to soften his cousin up a bit. It hadn’t worked recently, but Benny wasn’t here so maybe he could get away with. 

Fifty-six minutes later, Usnavi walked into the apartment, praying that he would find that Sonny had done as he asked. He was already planning to come down on him for the lying and he definitely didn’t want to add to the punishment. Thankfully, Sonny was waiting for him, playing on his gameboy in bed. 

Usnavi walked over and plucked the gameboy out of Sonny’s hand. “This is mine, at least for tonight. Time to talk, mijo.” 

“I’m sorry, Usnavi,” Sonny sniffled, trying his puppy dog eyes again on Usnavi, “I won’t do it again.”

Usnavi just glared in response, “Save it. It’s not gonna fly with me anymore.”

“Jeez man, It’s not a big deal. It’s just a jacket,” Sonny replied, deciding to switch tactics.

“It’s not about the jacket anymore! I was only gonna swat you and send you to bed early for the jacket.”

“So, I’m not getting whooped?” Sonny asked hopefully.

“You are getting spanked,” Usnavi said, the word making Sonny squirm, “But not because of the jacket. Because you lied to me about it. I give you a lot of freedom but I expect you to be honest with me.”

“C’mon, cuz!”

“Hey, you know the rules. Drop the ‘cuz.’ ”

“Really?” Sonny asked, “Why we gotta keep up with Benny’s stupid rules when he’s not here?”

“Benny’s rules are my rules. We don’t make them arbitrarily.”

“But you didn’t have any of these rules until Benny got involved.”

“Yeah, and I let you get away with manipulating me until Benny pointed it out.”

“I wasn’t manipulating you!”

“Oh por favor! You were all like ‘Ow, ‘Navi, it hurts,’ when I barely touched you.” Usnavi imitated.

“I don’t sound like that!”

Usnavi rolled his eyes and continued, “I still make the main rules like your curfew and stuff. Benny just helps me out when it comes to rules when you’re getting your butt busted. He’s got more experience in that department.”

“He’s a fucking hypocrite,” Sonny mumbled, not really meaning it but being annoyed that he was about to be punished.

Usnavi pulled Sonny up from his seat on the bed, took his seat, and pulled the kid over his knee. After delivering three hard swats to the kid’s sweatpants covered bottom, Usnavi scolded, “I guess we had to have the rest of the conversation over my knee.”

“No, ‘Navi,” Sonny whined, “I’ll promise I’ll be good.”

Usnavi winced at hearing Sonny’s use of such childish language. “You are good,” Usnavi said significantly softer, “You just need to learn to be honest with me and listen to me.” Sonny just nodded in response and Usnavi forced himself to readopt a firm demeanor.

“Now, I don’t appreciate you talking that way about Benny. That man cares enough about you to call you out on your crap. I know you two get on each other’s nerves sometimes with all of the teasing, but he loves you like you’re his own little brother. He would do anything for you,” Usnavi scolded, emphasizing the last three words with three hard smacks. 

“Yessir,” Sonny mumbled, feeling a pang of guilt at Usnavi’s words. He wasn’t really mad at Benny for convincing Usnavi to be harder on him but he was an easy target. It was easier to be mad at Benny that he was getting spanked than to be mad at himself.

“Good. Now that that’s settled, let’s get back to the issue at hand,” Usnavi said, pulling Sonny’s pants and boxers down in one smooth motion. Sonny groaned, his hope of sparing his bottom with his thickest sweatpants dashed. 

“Sorry, kid, but you brought this on yourself,” Usnavi said, “Maybe if I could trust your reactions, you wouldn’t be getting your bare butt beat, but obviously I gotta go by the color of your ass.” Sonny grimaced inwardly. He couldn’t blame that one on Benny. 

Usnavi started smacking briskly, trying to focus on keeping his strength even and maintaining his resolve. The sound of the smacks echoing off the walls of Sonny’s small room made the spanking sound so much louder. 

Sonny started drumming his feet on the carpet in response to the growing sting in his bottom. Even if Usnavi was just using his hand, it still freaking hurt.

“You. Do. Not. Lie. To. Me,” Usnavi said, giving Sonny a hard smack for every word, causing Sonny to whimper softly. Usnavi felt guilty, but he was grateful that he could see the color of Sonny’s bottom to know he wasn’t overdoing it. 

“When I tell you to do something, you do it,” Usnavi said, continuing the one sided conversation, “If you’ve done something you weren’t supposed to, lying about it is only going to increase your punishment. Me entiendes?”

“Yes ‘Navi,” Sonny sniffled sadly. Usnavi dropped the lecture to focus on reddening Sonny’s butt with quick stinging smacks. This wasn’t the worst thing Sonny had ever done, staying out half the night getting drunk by far topped this, but Usnavi really hated the thought of Sonny lying to him. By this point, Usnavi had run out of unspanked areas and was smacking spots for the second or third time. When the bottom before him reached a dark pink color, Usnavi decided it was time to wrap it up. 

“Alright Sonny, we’re almost done. Tell me why you’re getting spanked. I can count three things you did wrong tonight. What was your first mistake? ” Usnavi said, picking up the strength and the speed of his swats and aiming them all at Sonny’s sit spots.

“Didn’t wear my jacket,” Sonny said between sniffles.

“Good. And then when I asked you about it, what did you do?”

“Lied about it.” 

“Right again. And the last thing.”

“Was mean to Benny,” Sonny whimpered, lying limply over Usnavi’s lap. Last month’s spanking for the drinking incident was much harder, but the guilt of lying to Usnavi and taking his frustration at himself out on Benny was getting to him.

Usnavi felt the tension leave his little cousin and finished up the spanking with one final hard smack to each of Sonny’s sit spots. 

Knowing what to do this time, Usnavi pulled Sonny’s boxers up and pushed the sweatpants all the way off before pulling his little cousin onto his lap. While he waited patiently for Sonny to stop crying, he whispered reassurances and rubbed Sonny’s back. In that moment, Sonny looked like the same little kid who cried during thunderstorms. He was even wearing the same shirt of Usnavi’s that he used to sleep in when he was younger. Usnavi hadn’t seen that shirt in a while.

Once Sonny’s crying had turned into sniffling, Usnavi said, “Alright, admit it, cuz. You wore that shirt just to soften me up.”

Sonny blushed and said into Usnavi’s shirt, “Maybe.”

“I knew it. Brat,” Usnavi said fondly, still rubbing Sonny’s back. 

“Am I still on trouble?” Sonny murmured, again into Usnavi’s shirt.

“Well, you’re going to bed now but it’s getting pretty late anyway. And you’re grounded until your shift starts tomorrow, so no TV or games till after that. And you’re gonna apologize to Benny tomorrow. But other than that, no.”

“Why do I have to apologize to Benny? He doesn’t know what I said,” Sonny asked.

“He still deserves your respect,” Usnavi said, adding a bit of sternness back into his tone, “If you’d rather, you can sit down and write him an apology letter instead. Kevin used to make him do that.”

“No, that’s okay,” Sonny said hurriedly, “But what if he spanks me again?”

“Then that’s your fault,” Usnavi said, “But I really doubt he will.”

“Kay,” Sonny said sleepily. Usnavi smiled, remembering how when Sonny got in trouble with Abuela when they were kids, Sonny would almost always cry himself out on Usnavi’s lap and then promptly fall asleep.

“Alright, mijo. Bedtime.” Usnavi said, helping the sleepy kid to stand up and then get under the covers on his stomach. 

“Not tired,” Sonny said, “Not even ten o’clock.”

“Uh huh,” Usnavi said patronizingly while tucking the kid in. Once Sonny was suitably settled, Usnavi sat on the side of the bad and started carding his hand through the kids hair, singing softly “No te vayas, si me dejas…”


	13. Oh my God, Enough!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahh it's been a long time. My computer crashed and with it all of the stories I've been editing and posting so bear with me.

"Get here, now," Benny barked, pointing to the stop on the floor directly in front of him. Earlier that night, Usnavi and Sonny had had an argument, and Usnavi had grounded Sonny for the night. Feeling bad about the argument, Usnavi, who was stuck at the bodega, asked Benny to go check and make sure the kid was okay. Instead of finding the kid at home, Benny found him sneaking back up the fire escape. Now, Sonny stood frozen on the fire escape shook his head furiously. 

"You think I'm playing witchu? Here. Now." Benny said, standing in the living room of Usnavi and Sonny's apartment, struggling to keep his temper under control.

"But you'll hit me!" Sonny whined, again shaking his head. Benny couldn't resist the urge to roll his eyes. The kid sounded just like an episode of Leave it to Beaver, but Benny, for one, was no Ward Cleaver. 

"You're damn right I'm gonna hit you," Benny growled, "Wasting my time is not gonna make it any better." Much to Benny's ire, Sonny just shook his head again. Benny glared and reached down to his belt buckle, starting to undo it. He wouldn't actually use it on Sonny without talking to Usnavi first, but he figured the threat of it would scare Sonny into action. Benny knew that all Mr. Rosario had to do was reach for his belt and he would quickly be doing as he was told. 

"Hold up! ¡Espérate!" Sonny said, quickly climbing through the window into the apartment.

"Corner." Benny growled, releasing his grip on his belt buckle. He was too pissed right now to deal with Sonny. Taking a few deep breaths, he walked over to the kitchen phone and dialed the bodega number.

"De La Vega's." Usnavi said into the phone. 

"Hey man, it's me. When you closing the store? You gotta come home and deal with the kid."

"Jesus Christ. What he do?"

"Don't know exactly. Came to check in on him like you asked. Caught him sneaking back in from somewhere.

"I can't close for at least an hour or so. Weather channel is calling for a storm so there's still a bunch of people stocking up on milk and eggs. Just bring him over here and he can wait for me to be done. That way you can go and get on with your life."

"Nah, man, it's cool. I'll stay here. Get the truth out of him so you can just whoop him and send him to bed." 

"Maybe it's not as bad as you think," Usnavi reasoned.

"Wishful thinking. Kid has a knack for trouble." Benny said.

"I know, I know. Tell him that I'll be home in a bit and that he better behave for you if he knows what's good for him."

Benny snorted at that. He was more than capable of dealing with the kid on his own, but still he responded, "Got it. Talk to you in a bit."

"Wait, also tell him that even though he's in trouble, I still love him," Usnavi added before Benny could hang up. 

"Alright, I will." Benny said, rolling his eyes fondly before hanging up the phone.

"Come over here and sit down," he barked to Sonny, who scurried over to the kitchen chair Benny had pointed to, both to keep his butt out of the line of fire and to relish sitting while he still could. Benny, however, was faster, and used the opportunity to give the kid a firm swat now that he was calmer, before pushing the kid down in the seat and leaning against the fridge. 

"All right, first things first. Usnavi will be home in an hour or so, so you and I are gonna have a chat in the meantime. Usnavi wanted me to tell you to behave and that he still loves you. I guess I should add that just because we love you doesn't mean you're not getting your ass beat. In fact, that's precisely why you're getting your ass beat," Benny said. Sonny just blushed and looked down at his shoes.

"So, let's start with the obvious question. Where were you?"

"Would you believe me if I said I was out for a moonlit stroll?" 

Benny grabbed Sonny's arm, intent on pulling him to his feet, when Sonny yelled, "Wait, I'll tell you! I was at Thirsty's!" 

"Jesus, kid, the dive bar on 175th? "

"Yeah," Sonny said glumly as Benny pushed him back into the chair. 

"Hand it over," Benny said, placing his hand out.

"Hand what over?" Sonny asked, feigning innocence.

"Your fake ID. I know that place. They're not strict but they do card. Give it here."

"C'mon Benny, I'm sure you had one at my age." Sonny whined.

"Well, we already know that I'm a 'fucking hypocrite,' now don't we?" Benny said, reminding Sonny of his earlier words. 

When Sonny hesitated, Benny added, "You wanna sit waiting for Usnavi on a sore ass? 'Cause that's the road you're headed down."

"No sir," Sonny sighed, pulling out his fake and handing it to Benny who promptly snapped the flimsy thing in half. 

"Go get the other ones. And yeah, I'm not stupid. I know you have at least one duplicate." Sonny sighed but got up and retrieved the other ID from under his mattress before handing it to Benny.

"This the only one? Don't lie to me," Benny asked.

"Yes sir, that's it." 

Benny eyed the kid up and down before deciding to believe him. "Alright, moving on. You don't look drunk. How much did you have to drink?"

"Only one beer."

"You snuck out to have one beer?" Benny asked in disbelief. It didn't seem worth it.

"Well, at some point I realized I had left my phone at home so I came back to get it."

"And then you were gonna go out and get wasted?"

"Maybe, " Sonny mumbled. 

"Uh, uh, that ain't gonna fly," Benny said, grabbing Sonny's chin and forcing eye contact, "You were gonna go out and drunk. The only acceptable answers are 'yes sir' or 'no sir.'"

"Yes, sir," Sonny sighed. 

"Jesus, Sonny, we had this conversation not three months ago about sneaking out and getting drunk."

"Technically, I didn't actually get drunk this time."

"Boy, you are pushing your luck tonight," Benny said, shaking his head. 

"Sorry," Sonny mumbled.

"You remember what I said would happen if we ever had to have this discussion again?" Sonny's head snapped up and his eyes went wide. Last time this happened, Benny had promised to whoop him, regardless of what Usnavi dished out.

"So you do remember. Usnavi is gonna paddle your ass and then I'm gonna have my turn." Benny sighed, wishing he hadn't made that promise to Sonny. 

"I'm in so much trouble," Sonny said, putting his head into his hands.

"Yeah, you are," Benny said, "That's what happens when you screw up for the second time. Things get worse. I mean, you just barely made it home last time. How could you possibly think this was a good idea?"

"I dunno." Benny took a deep breath, ignoring the comment and pushing forward.

"Where'd you get the fake?"

"Some kid at school had a hookup with a guy who made fakes so we all bought 'em. We just got them today so we were gonna try 'em out."

"So you bought the fake ID after we had our first conversation?"

"Yeah." Benny cleared his throat.

"Yes, Benny," Sonny corrected.

"So you were planning for this to be a regular thing?"

"Yessir." 

"Dammit, Sonny," Benny growled, temper rising again, "I'm really trying not to lecture here because I know Usnavi is gonna be chewing you out at a mile a minute, but you're making this difficult."

"I'm sorry."

"Yeah, you said that. So let me make sure I've got all the facts straight. You were being a dick to Usnavi so he grounded you. You decided to disregard that so you snuck out with your fake ID that you bought with the intention of drinking underage regularly. You had a beer before you came home to get your phone and then you were gonna go back out and get drunk. Anything to add?"

"No sir," Sonny said. 

"Then I think you better march your little butt to the corner."

Annoyed at the juvenile scolding, Sonny couldn't help but argue,"C'mon, Benny. This is dumb. I'm not a little kid." 

Benny took three deep breaths, trying to keep himself from throttling the kid, before yanking him of his chair. He grabbed Sonny by the ear and tugged him over to the corner. After depositing the kid in the corner, he dragged a chair over to the corner and growled, "Sit."

"This is such bullshit. I'm not a baby," Sonny muttered under his breath. 

"You know what, I'm done with this shit," Benny said, putting his foot on the chair and pushing Sonny over his raised leg. 

"You know better than to give me lip when you're already in trouble," Benny lectured, landing half a dozen sharp swats to the kid's butt. Sonny gripped Benny's ankle for stability and bit his lip. He knew he shouldn't have kept arguing, but he couldn't help but push the limits. 

"Am I interrupting something?" Usnavi couldn't help but quip as he walked into the apartment. Not expecting him for a bit, Benny and Sonny had been too preoccupied to notice Usnavi walking into the apartment. 

Benny gave the kid three more smacks before standing him back up and ordering, "Go sit at the table. You and Usnavi got a lot to talk about."


	14. Bueno, Let's Review

"Alright, fill me in," Usnavi said with grim determination once the three of them were seated at the table. Benny handed Usnavi the fake IDs that were now snapped in half while Sonny fidgeted.

"Fake IDs? Christ Sonny! We already talked about drinking!" Usnavi explained, his blood boiling. Sonny knew he couldn't come up with a response to appease either man so he decided that he would try to keep quiet and nod where required. 

"Apparently, the kid doesn't care. He and his friends bought a bunch of fake IDs and then tonight after you grounded him, he snuck out so he could get drunk with his friends. He had a beer before I caught him sneaking back in to get his cell phone. He was gonna fucking go back out if I hadn't been there," Benny said, getting more heated as he recounted the accounts of the night. "I was swatting him when you came in because he was giving me lip about sitting in the corner."

"What the hell, Sonny? You got anything to say in your defense?" Usnavi exclaimed, his voice rising a bit. 

"I'm sorry?" Sonny said hesitantly. 

"Is that a question? Because I think you're just sorry you got caught." Benny growled. 

"I'm not bullshitting you! I am sorry," Sonny shot back, his resolve to stay quiet diminishing.

"Language. I have no problem washing your mouth out, feel me?" Benny asked. He'd only ever had his mouth washed out once but he knew it was an experience the kid would not enjoy. 

"Yes," Sonny mumbled, not wanting to eat soap before the rest of his sentence was even handed down.

"Yes what?" Benny said, smacking the kid lightly on the back of the head

"Yessir." Sonny muttered.

"So let's count your long list of crimes, shall we?," Usnavi said, "You gave me attitude. You gave Benny attitude. You snuck out while you were grounded. You purchased a fake ID. You not only drank underage, but you were planning to go back out and get drunk. And you were perfectly content to let me sit here worry about you if I had come back before you did. Do you have any idea how worried I was last time this happened?"

"I didn't think of it that way," Sonny mumbled. He honestly hadn't thought about any of the consequences of his actions that night. 

"Well you better start thinking. Your actions affect more than just you. You do get that, don't you?" Usnavi asked.

"Yessir."

"Did you have a plan for how you were gonna get home after you got wasted? Remember how one of the older guys had to take you home last time?" Usnavi questioned.

"No, sir."

"Boy, you are not helping your case," Benny said, "Did you use your head at all tonight?"

"Not really. But I didn't plan for this when I first bought the fake. I thought I would just use it to get into clubs, maybe get a six pack from time to time. But then I was so pissed when Usnavi grounded me tonight and that I couldn't go hang out with Pete tonight that I just wanted to blow off some steam. So when the guys from school texted me, I thought it was perfect. It was stupid that I was grounded anyway." Sonny said, getting irritated again. 

"You best not be tryna blame Usnavi for your screw up tonight," Benny said, temper rising. He remembered how distraught Usnavi hand been the last time this happened and knew that his friend would have been just as panicked this time around. 

"No, I was just trying to explain! Damn!" 

"Cut the attitude, por favor," Usnavi ordered, giving Sonny a sharp smack to the side of the leg, patience running thin. 

"Sorry," Sonny huffed.

"Alright, I think I heard all I need to hear. Sonny, go wait in the corner while Benny and I go into my room and talk about what happens next," Usnavi said, wanting to keep things moving. 

"But Benny already put me in the corner!" Sonny argued. Usnavi had heard enough and pulled Sonny up by the arm and lead him to the corner with a firm hand on the back of his neck."

"Don't even try, little man. You never actually stood in the corner for me," Benny added once Sonny was fully in the corner before heading into the bedroom with Usnavi closely behind.

"I'm gonna kill him. I'm never letting him out of my sight again. I'm gonna make him work at the bodega all day everyday. I'm gonna--" Usnavi said, starting to pace around the room. 

"Alright, breathe, little homie," Benny said, grabbing Usnavi by the arm to stop him from pacing. He knew his friend could pace and ramble on and on when he was upset, but that it would ultimately lead nowhere,"You're not gonna kill him, you're gonna spank him."

"This is gonna have to be a bad one, isn't it?" Usnavi sighed, sitting down on his bed. 

"Yeah, it is," Benny said, flopping down next to Usnavi, "And last time I promised him my own whooping regardless of how hard you went on him, but I didn't think I'd actually have to go through with it."

"Argh, why couldn't he have learned the first time? You ever get in trouble for the same thing twice with Kevin?"

"Yeah, a couple of times. He really laid into me with his belt when I did. What really stopped me though was that he said that next time he'd make me cut a switch for him to whoop my ass with," Benny said, wincing at the memory. His former boss' belt hurt enough that he never wanted to be on the receiving end of the man wielding a switch.

"I'm not gonna use a switch on him, but I am thinking damn hard about giving him a couple of good licks with the belt. Not only did he do the same thing a second time, but he was already being punished by being grounded for the night and he completely disobeyed me. " 

"I agree. I know it's hard, man, but it's for his own good. And you really don't wanna go through this a third time."

"Oh, but if I use the belt, won't it be too much for you to spank him again?" Usnavi asked, falling back into his old patterns of trying to protect the kid.

"Nah, I gotta keep my promises to the kid. I won't be too harsh, just enough to make him know that he answers to me too. I'll even give him the choice if he wants it today or tomorrow. "

"Fine," Usnavi acquiesced, "But not too hard."

"No problem. If you whoop him good enough tonight, it shouldn't take more than a few taps with my hand to reignite the fire in his ass. Are you gonna give him the whole licking with the belt or spank him first?"

"He probably deserves the belt for the whole thing, but I don't think I have it in me."

"Fair enough."

"Ah shit, you know what? I never felt the belt growing up. You gotta hit me with it so I know, just like with the sneaker."

"Seriously? I admire your sense of fairness but I can guarantee you won't go to hard on him. If anything you'll be too lenient with him. And I'll stay and coach you through it."

"I still gotta feel it. And I'm gonna do it over his boxers so you gotta do the same to me," Usnavi said, pushing his loose fitting jeans down to his knees, turning away from Benny and putting his hands on his knees.

"Alright man, whatever you say," Benny replied, undoing his belt and bringing the belt down hard on Usnavi's ass. In the kitchen, Sonny's head shot up at the sound of the belt. What the hell were they doing in there?

"Ahh," Usnavi said, instinctively throwing his hand back.

"You know, Kevin would've smacked the back of your hand with his palm and then given you a lick or two to the thighs for that. Dude did not play around when it came to putting your hand back. "

"Don't even think about it," Usnavi replied, pulling his pants back up.

"Here ya go," Benny said, handing the belt over to Usnavi, "It's ass whooping time."


	15. Just Breathe

"Alright, ven acá," Usnavi called, releasing the kid from the corner and beckoning him over to the couch. Sonny turned around and trudged two steps forward toward Usnavi before seeing what was on the coffee table and freezing in place. He suddenly realized what the noise coming from Usnavi's room was and put two and two together, not liking what he came up with.

"You really don't gotta use that," Sonny said, backing up slowly from his cousin. Damn, how had one stupid decision got him in so much trouble?

"You're not really in the position to be calling the shots. Since the sneaker on your ass didn't seem to make it through, maybe a few licks from Benny's belt will. Now, come here."

Sonny went pale but told himself to breathe. Benny had made it sound like Mr. R gave him a whipping practically every week when he was sixteen, so Sonny could for sure make it through one. Besides, Usnavi said a few licks, so maybe he wouldn't be getting the full thing with the belt. But a spanking from Usnavi's hand still hurt plenty! And he knew this was gonna be worse than the last time he'd been caught drinking. And that time Usnavi might as well have set fire to his butt with a flame thrower. Okay, maybe that was a bit dramatic but still!

"You need some help?" Benny asked Sonny. Sonny was sure he did not want the type of help Benny was suggesting. Slowly, but determined to make it to Usnavi without getting anymore swats to his ass, Sonny came over to Usnavi's side, standing by his cousin's right knee.

"'Navi, I'm really sorry," Sonny said, unable to resist one last ditch effort to play on his cousin's sympathies.

"Nice try. Drop your jeans to your ankles or take 'em clean off. Doesn't matter to me."

"Yes sir." Once Sonny kicked off his pants and threw them in the corner of the room, Usnavi gave him an expectant look. Sonny held back an curse at that. Being expected to lay himself over Usnavi's lap was so much worse than just being pulled over.

"Alright, Son, I'm gonna spank your butt and then give you six with the belt. Then it'll be Benny's turn. You're also grounded for two weeks, " Usnavi said, shifting his cousin forward a bit so he had better access to the kid's bottom. Sonny's torso was on the couch with his legs touching the ground. It was all in all not an uncomfortable position, but Sonny knew that one part of him would be very uncomfortable before long.

"And, because I'm so nice, I'm gonna give you a choice of whether you want the whooping from me tonight after Usnavi's done or tomorrow," Benny added wryly.

"Tonight," Sonny blurted out quickly. He certainly didn't relish the thought of going over Benny's knee immediately after Usnavi's but waiting till tomorrow would be torture.

"You sure?" Benny asked. "I ain't gonna go easier on you 'cause you're sore tonight."

"You gonna give me the belt too?" Sonny asked, making sure he knew what he was getting into.

"Tell you what, little man, you behave for your cousin and I'll just use my hand. Still not gonna be a walk in the park though."

"Tonight," Sonny confirmed. He didn't think he'd be able to sleep if he were pondering an impending spanking. The only time he had had to wait overnight for a spanking before he was too drunk to worry too much about it.

With that, Usnavi tugged Sonny's boxer-briefs to his knees and brought his hand down with a firm whap. Sonny sucked in a breath. This was now the fourth time he'd been in this position and still the first smack took him by surprise. He knew that this would be the worst punishment he'd yet to receive, even before the second round from Benny. Usnavi quickly settled into a rhythm, his swats landing quickly all over Sonny's butt. Sonny was sure that Usnavi's hand was lighter than Benny's, but much faster. Benny was also pretty predictable, landing swats in a distinct pattern, where Usnavi's hand would switch from smacking the same spot three times to jumping all around, making it impossible for Sonny to predict where it was going to land next. And the swats freaking stung! Before long, Sonny was wriggling around on Usnavi's lap, trying to avoid Usnavi's palm that was descending over and over again. Usnavi just pulled his cousin back in toward his body and continued smacking whatever parts of Sonny's butt were in prime swatting range at the time.

"Ah, ow, too hard," Sonny called out when Usnavi smacked the tops of his thighs.

"You should've thought of that before you bought that fake ID. Or before you snuck out tonight to go get drunk," Usnavi replied, continuing to let his hand rise and fall.

"But it hurts!"

"Hurts a lot less than getting your stomach pumped. Or getting mugged 'cause you couldn't find your way home."

"But you only hit my legs when I put my hand back or something!" Sonny cried indignantly. He hadn't even done anything. Well, except for sneaking out with the intention of getting drunk. But nothing right that second!

"Cool it, little man," Benny added from across the room. Sonny had all but forgotten that Benny was still in the room.

"Just because I usually only do it when you're acting up, doesn't mean I won't when you're not. You knew this was gonna be a bad one," Usnavi said, punctuating his point by moving his hand back down to the tops of Sonny's thighs and increasing the pace of his swats.

"Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow!" Sonny complained, although he couldn't argue that he didn't know this was gonna be rough. His ass was already on fire and now his legs were heading there too. He could feel the tears starting to well up in his eyes and hear the sound of it in his voice.

"I do not like having to go over the same thing twice, Son. You knew you were specifically not allowed to drink. I already wore your butt out over it a few months ago. You not only did something extremely stupid, but you intentionally disobeyed me by drinking and breaking your grounding."

"Lo siento," Sonny sniffled, finally giving in to the tears. Before long, he was outwardly crying, burying his face into the couch cushion. Usnavi's light but fast swats seemed relentless to Sonny until all of the sudden they stopped. Sonny felt momentary relief before he heard Usnavi say gently, "Alright, papa, time to finish this up."

"Noooooo," Sonny whined, not caring that he sounded all of four years old at the moment.

"Six and then, besides the grounding, you and me are square," Usnavi said, picking up the belt and looking at it in distaste. He folded it over and held it so high up that there were less than three inches left to use. Benny sighed and got up, and moved Usnavi's hand closer to the buckle, leaving enough length that it would sting when it was brought down, but not wrap around the kid's hip. Sonny wasn't sure exactly what they were doing, but he was pretty certain that if Benny was getting involved, it wasn't so Usnavi would be lighter on him. After tapping Sonny's butt lightly with the belt in warning, Usnavi snapped the belt down firmly at the top of Sonny's butt. He didn't put much strength behind the smack, but you couldn't tell by the way Sonny wailed and squirmed over Usnavi's lap. Usnavi brought the belt down again and Sonny couldn't believe how much his ass hurt.

"Navi...hold...gonna throw...don't want...extra" Sonny sniffled after the third strike, reaching his hand back, but not covering his butt. He knew he would end up with extra licks, or worse, accidentally feel the belt on the back of his hand, if Usnavi didn't hold his hand out of the way for him.

"I gotchu, little dude," Benny said, coming over and gently pinning Sonny's hand to his back. Usnavi delivered the last three licks quickly, and Sonny let out a wail in response.

"Alright, alright, take breath," Usnavi said, rubbing Sonny's back gently, "The worst's over. You did good."

"Once he catches his breath, pull his boxers up and stand him in the corner," Benny said, "Can't coddle him when he's still got another whooping to come."

"He's so upset though!" 

"He's still being punished." At this point, Sonny realized that they were talking about him and that Benny wanted to make him stand in the corner.  He started to wiggle himself around on Usnavi's lap, first pulling his boxers up and then awkwardly maneuvering himself so that he was sitting on Usnavi's lap, butt hanging off the side, with his face buried into his cousin's shirt. Even if he was still due another spanking, he would much rather cry it out in Usnavi's arms than in the corner. 

"Ah, I can't say no to that," Benny conceded at the sight of a cuddly Sonny, "He's still in trouble though."

"Yeah, yeah, just let me hold him for a bit," Usnavi said, squeezing the kid tighter. Sonny let himself cry, not even trying to compose himself. He figured that as soon as he stopped crying, he'd be over Benny's knee. Usnavi carded his fingers through the kid's hair. Even Benny couldn't resist sitting next to the pair and putting a comforting hand on Sonny's shoulder. 

Once Sonny's tears dried up, Benny let out a loud sigh, pulled the kid up off of Usnavi's lap, and pushed the kid gently but firmly to sit on the couch. Sonny winced as even the soft couch cushions hurt his sore butt. Benny knelt down so that he was eye level with the kid, "Do you understand why I'm gonna reheat your butt?"

"'Cause I snuck out to get drunk," Sonny mumbled.

"No, Usnavi handled that. He's in charge of you and you broke his rules. I'm doing this because Usnavi would've been panicked if we couldn't find you. Hell, I would've been panicked if I came to check on you and you weren't here."

"I'm sorry," Sonny said, really meaning it now, a few tears escaping from his eyes. Benny squeezed the back of Sonny's neck gently.

"I know. Let's get it done," Benny said pulling Sonny to his feet and taking the kid's place on the couch. As much as Sonny didn't want to go over Benny's knee, he was glad that Benny pulled him down. Having to put himself over Benny's knee while his ass was still on fire would be torture. 

"I want you to think about how me and Usnavi would feel if we couldn't find you tonight," Benny said, pulling down Sonny's boxers once again and starting to smack Sonny's butt, causing the kid to immediately hiss. Benny was swatting more lightly than he usually would and avoiding the redder, and undoubtedly sorer, areas. Sonny couldn't tell, though. He immediately felt like his butt was being stung by a swarm of bees. Benny kept going until Sonny was again wiggling around trying to avoid the smacks. 

"No more," Sonny whined, kicking his feet against the floor. 

"Almost done, kiddo. Be brave," Benny replied, making quick work of it, using Usnavi's technique of swatting lightly but quickly. Soon, Sonny was all out crying again. 

"You gonna do this again?" Benny asked.

"Never," Sonny said, shaking his head frantically. 

"Okay, last four and they're gonna be hard," Benny said. Sonny griped onto the couch cushion and braced himself for the smacks. Benny shifted him forward and planted the last four smacks to Sonny's sit spots, ensuring he'd remember the lesson for a while. Immediately after the last smack fell, Usnavi rushed over to his cousin, hugging the kids upper half with all of his might.

"At least lemme get him upright first," Benny said, gently nudging Usnavi off of Sonny. He righted the kids boxer-briefs and flipped him over so Sonny was sitting upright in his lap, butt hanging between his thighs.

"Give him to me," Usnavi demanded, wanting to hold his cousin and never let him go.

"No way, man," Benny said, squeezing Sonny tight. Although he could do without the sore butt, Sonny thought it was kinda nice to be fought over, not that he'd ever admit it. Sonny continued to cry into Benny's shoulder, with Usnavi rubbing his back, until the worst of the tears abated. After a minute, Sonny felt Benny lift him up and was about to complain, not wanting to relinquish comfort just yet. He was relieved however, when he felt himself being placed into Usnavi's lap.

"Too hard," Sonny said after a moment. 

"I know, that was a hard spanking, but you did so good," Usnavi cooed.

"No, you're squeezing me too hard," Sonny replied, wiggling around in Usnavi's thin but strong arms.

"I'm sorry, mijo," Unsavi replied, loosening his grip, "But not about the spanking,"

"Yeah, yeah," Sonny mumbled, his head still on Usnavi's shoulder but his voice regaining steadiness. 

"Alright, little man, bedtime," Benny said a moment later when he saw Sonny start to go limp on Usnavi's lap. 

"Comfortable," Sonny said, sleepily swatting at Benny's hand that was trying to pull him off of Usnavi's lap. 

"I'm not carrying you to bed," Benny said, "You can sleep on the floor for all I care."

"You ain't got the strength to carry me. I'm solid muscle," Sonny said sleepily, not being able to resist a jab at Benny now that he wasn't in trouble anymore.

"C'mon, up," Benny said again, but he was too late. Sonny was sound asleep in Usnavi's arms. 

"You're not really gonna make him sleep on the ground, are you? Cause I can't lift him."

"Course not," Benny sighed, picking Sonny up and carrying him into bed and kissing him on the forehead. 


	16. Handball in Highbridge Park

"Shit," Usnavi muttered under his breath as he rounded the corner and saw Mr. Rosario. He knew that this was such a dumb idea but the lack of impulse control of a thirteen year old had taken over. Normally, he would never leave the apartment when he was babysitting, but Benny had talked him into it. He figured a half hour couldn't hurt, right?

"Usnavi?" Kevin asked when he saw the teen, "Why aren't you upstairs? Where are the kids?" 

"They're upstairs," Usnavi replied, not wanting to incriminate himself. Kevin was scary when he was mad! The older man might just whoop him right here on the street if he didn't play his cards right. 

"Is there something wrong? Is someone hurt? Is it your Abuela?"

"No sir. Everyone's fine." Usnavi replied, his main goal was to get back to the apartment because hopefully his surrogate uncle wouldn't kill him in front of the kids, "Why don't we talk about this upstairs. Don't want to leave the kids alone for any longer." 

"They're alone? Why?" Kevin asked, causing Usnavi to curse internally. He hadn't thought of the fact that Mr. Rosario didn't know the kids were alone yet. 

"Um, I kinda went out a little to meet up with Benny and some of the guys," Usnavi mumbled, "Hey, since you're home, why don't I grab some ice cream from the bodega for the kids. They've been asking for it all afternoon." With that Usnavi turned and tried to escape the situation, only to be grabbed by the back of his collar and pulled around to face Mr. Rosario.

"Usnavi Diego De La Vega, are you telling me that you left Nina and Sonny home alone so you could go screw around with your little friends?" Kevin growled.

"Yessir, I was only gone for a little while though," Usnavi mumbled. He knew he was royally screwed. Mr. Rosario was gonna kill him and then bring him back just to kill him again. 

"Get your backside upstairs. Right. Now." Kevin barked, popping Usnavi on the butt. The teen, mortified that he'd just been swatted in public like a toddler, rushed inside. Kevin took a deep breath before following Usnavi inside, needing to make sure the kids were safe before he figured out what to do with the teen. He breathed out a sigh of relief when he saw Nina and Sonny sitting on the floor playing Candyland.

"Hi Papi," Nina said immediately, still looking down at the game. Kevin rushed over and scooped his daughter into a hug and crushing her to his chest, relieved that she was okay. Usnavi stood awkwardly to the side, fidgeting with his hands and shifting his weight from foot to foot.  

"Daddy, you're hurting me," Nina complained, still being squeezed tightly by her father's strong arms.  

 "Lo siento Princesa," he responded, setting her back on her feet, "How long were you and Sonny alone for, just now?"

"Not real long. We weren't even done Candyland yet. 'Navi set the game up for us and then told me I was in charge till he got back."

Kevin looked over at the kid who was standing a few feet away, forced himself to keep his keep his voice level as not to startle his daughter, and commanded, "Usnavi, siéntate en la esquina." 

Usnavi's face flushed but he did what he was told, dragging a kitchen chair over to the corner and sitting down in it. He really hoped that that was what Mr. Rosario meant, not that he should sit in the corner on the floor like a toddler.  

"Why is 'Navi in time out? Was he bad?" Sonny asked, fingers in his mouth, nervous for his cousin. 

"Usnavi knows that he is not allowed to leave you to alone. Nina, if Usnavi every leaves you alone again, you call me, Mami, or Abuela. You are not old enough to take care of yourself and Sonny alone."

"I'm sorry, Daddy," Nina said, her eyes filling with tears as she looked up at her father. Great, now Usnavi had made Nina cry. This day just kept getting worse and worse for the young teen. 

"You're not in trouble, mija. Usnavi should not have left you alone. Can you take Sonny in your room and finish your game so I can talk to Usnavi?"

"Is Usnavi in a lot of trouble?"

"Yes, he is. What he did was dangerous and irresponsible. I have to talk to your Abuela first, but if I end up spanking him, I want you and Sonny stay in your room." Usnavi cringed hearing that. Abuela hadn't spanked him since he was ten and he and Benny broke their tv playing ball in the house after she specifically told them not to. Not counting the odd swat or two when he was Sonny's age, this would only be the fourth time he'd been spanked. 

"Yes, Papi. C'mon Sonny!" Nina replied, gathering up the board and leading Sonny into her room.

"So I'm getting a whooping, huh?" Usnavi asked, unable to resist turning around in the kitchen chair he was sitting in facing the corner. 

"Come here, por favor," Kevin commanded, pointing to the couch, "And yes, I'm pretty sure that's whats gonna happen, but you and I are gonna talk and I'm gonna call your Abuela first . Now, explain to me exactly what the hell you were thinking today."

"Yes sir," Usnavi sighed. He didn't really wanna get grounded on top of getting spanked but he knew that would happen if Mr. Rosario called Abuela. And he didn't really want Abuela to not trust him anymore. She already worried enough about them. But hopefully she'd let Mr. Rosario do it and not spank him herself. He knew that spanking him would tire her out and even though it would probably hurt less, he'd feel doubly guilty. "I dunno what I was thinking, honestly. I just wanted to go play handball with Benny and some of the other guys. They always go on Tuesday and I can never go 'cuz that's one of my babysitting days and it's so unfair. So yeah, I went and left Nina in charge. Figured I'd only be gone an hour and then I'd be back in plenty of time before you got back. By the time I got there, I was so worried about them that I went right back. "

"So you somehow thought it was okay to shirk your responsibilities and leave two defenseless children home alone?"

"Yeah, but I did come right back."

"That's not the point. Watching them was your responsibility."

"But they always play on Tuesday and it's not fair!"

"Not fair! You of all people should know the world isn't fair!"

"Still, I just wanna play with my friends sometimes."

"Usnavi, you have plenty of times to play with your friends. Did you ever think of asking your Abuela if you could watch the kids on Wednesday instead? The whole point of you coming over here two days a week is to give her a little break but I'm sure she wouldn't care which days."

"You really think she'd go for it?" Usnavi asked, excited at the possibility of joining the weekly handball game. 

"Does your Abuela ever say no to you?" Mr. Rosario responded, fighting a grin as he thought of how good Claudia was with Usnavi, Sonny, and Nina, her adopted grandkids. 

"I guess not. Do you think she'd still let me play now?" 

"Well, I can't say if you're gonna be grounded for the next few games, but I bet you can get back on her good side," Kevin said kindly, before turning stern again, "That doesn't mean what you did today wasn't incredibly short sighted and irresponsible. Do you have anything to add before I call your Abuela?"

"No sir, just that I'm really really sorry. And not just because I'm probably gonna get whooped. I was really worried and guilty as soon as I left," Usnavi said, looking down at his hands. Kevin eyed the kid up for a moment before going over to the phone and dialing Claudia's number

"Hola Claudia...No, no everything's fine, well mas o menos. It's Usnavi...No, he's not hurt. He left Nina and Sonny alone today to go play with his friends...Yes, they're fine. They were just sitting playing a board game...Yes, she is very responsible for her age...Uh huh...Si, I agree, it's not like him...Si...That's why I called, I thought since I caught him I would deal with it, save you the trouble...Yes, it's no trouble...Yeah, I was planning to put him over my knee...Oh, wow, it has been a long time...No, no belt, I agree...Cami's wooden spoon, I think...Uh huh...Okay, alright, I'll tell him...Alright...Gracias...Te amo, Claudia...Adios."

"Abuela says she's disappointed in you but loves you and you and her will talk tonight."

"Talk?"

"If you behave yourself, it sounds like she's not gonna spank you. Although I can't promise she won't ground you or give you some extra chores. And I would bet you're in for one hell of a lecture. Now stand up and take your jeans down."

Usnavi had to hold back a gulp. Aside from a few swats from his parents when he was little and they were alive, he'd only ever been spanked by Abuela before and he was pretty sure Mr. R could hit a hell of a lot harder.

Once he had the kid settled on his lap, Kevin pulled Usnavi's boxers down to meet his pants. Without giving a warning tap, he brought the spoon down with a hard crack on the top of Usnavi's backside.

"Ow," Usnavi couldn't help but yelp. He remembers spankings hurting but not this much. 

Abuela tells me she hasn't spanked you in almost three years?" Kevin asked, settling into a rhythm of cracking down with the spoon.

"Ahh, yessir, when I was ten."

"Well, you're not ten anymore. You're a young man and you're going to be getting a young man's punishment."

"But you put me over your knee!"

"Would you rather go over the couch for my belt? Because if you were fifteen or sixteen, or if this kind of thing wasn't so out of character for you, that would be what would happen." 

"No, no sir..." Usnavi most certainly did not want that. He only had ever been given a spanking with an open palm or a wooden spoon, although once Abuela had given him one good smack with her chancleta for being mouthy. This already hurt more than Abuela using the spoon and he had no desire to be on the receiving end of the man wielding a belt. 

"Alright, then as I was saying, this is going to be harder, I'm sure, than that was. But you're not a little kid anymore. You were trusted with an adult responsibility and you shirked it and now you have to own up to the consequences. And in this case the consequences are getting a hiding from me."

"Ah, I understand, sir. I'll try to take it like a man."

"That's good. But that doesn't mean you can't cry and I'm pretty sure you will. Just don't fight me or squirm too much and answer my questions respectfully and that'll show me that you understand why we're here."

"Yes, sir," Usnavi replied.

"Good. Now, what you did was incredibly irresponsible.Two days a week, you're supposed to come here after school for two hours and do your homework while keeping any eye out for Nina and Sonny to give Abuela a break. Don't you think she deserves that?"

"Of course she does!" Usnavi fired back with a bit of an edge to his tone. How could Mr. Rosario think that Usnavi didn't know that Abuela needed a break sometimes.

"Watch it," Kevin warned, giving a sharp smack to the back of Usnavi's thigh, causing the kid to kick his leg."Do you think she's going to get a proper rest now if she's constantly worried about you shirking your responsibilities?"

"I didn't think about that."

"Seems to me, you didn't think at all. What if there was a fire? Would Nina be able to get herself and Sonny out? What if Sonny bumped his head? What if the kids decided, hey, Usnavi gets to go out, we should too."

"Ah, Nina's too responsible too do that," Usnavi replied. It was a weak defense, he knew, but he felt he had to defend himself.

"She shouldn't have to be so responsible! She's eight. She needs to be babysat. Not taking care of herself and Sonny."

"I know, I'm sorry."

"You certainly should be." With that, Kevin stopped talking, and all Usnavi had to focus on was the rhythmic rise and fall of the spoon on his bottom. He really hated being scolded, but at least he had something to distract him from the pain in his butt. After about two minutes of constant spanking, Usnavi could feel his eyes start to water and couldn't help but squirm a little. When one particularly hard smack fell, he couldn't help but let out a loud yelp. A second later, out of the corner of his eye, Usnavi could see Nina's door open and small figure run out. 

"Ow, dammit," Kevin yelled, instinctively pushing aside toddler that had just rammed his light up sneaker in to the man's shin. Usnavi looked around, trying to get his bearings on what was happening. He imagined that they must be quite a sight to see. Sonny was now laying face down on the floor, wailing, on his way to an all out tantrum, while Usnavi was still turned over Kevin's knee and Nina was hovering in her doorway looking nervous. A moment later, Usnavi could feel his boxers being pulled up and himself guided off Kevin's lap and into a standing position.


	17. Me and My Cousin

Kevin had to take a moment to process the scene in front of him. He had a half-spanked, sniffling teenager across his knee and now a screaming toddler laying on the floor. 

"Usnavi, go stand in the corner," Kevin said, righting the kid's boxers and helping him to stand up. 

"Yessir, but maybe I could try to get Sonny to calm down first? I'm pretty good at it and Abuela always has me do it when he's freaking out," Usnavi asked while pulling his pants back up. 

"Go ahead," Kevin sighed. He was already disciplining one De La Vega and now it looked like he would have to deal with another. Looking at his daughter, he thanked his lucky stars that she was such an easy kid. He forced himself to take a breath before asking, "Princesa, can you back in your room, please?"

"Yes, Daddy," Nina said, going back into her room but obviously nervous about chaos happening in the living room.

A few minutes later, Sonny finally stopped crying, now sitting in Usnavi's lap, much to Usnavi's obvious discomfort. To the kid's credit, he didn't attempt to push Sonny off his lap, just squirmed around and tried to get comfortable on the hard floor.

"Sonny, come here," Kevin said, now sitting back on the couch.  Sonny shook his head and buried himself into Usnavi's chest. Losing patience and wanting to get this whole thing over with, Mr. Rosario plucked the Sonny off of Usnavi's lap, took him by the arm and put the kid in front of him while he sat on the couch. He nodded his head towards the corner, indicating to Usnavi to go back there. 

"Are you allowed to kick people and call them names?" Kevin asked once Usnavi did as he was told

"Abuela says that were allowed to kick and hit if someone's trying to hurt us."

"Was I trying to hurt you?" Kevin asked, unbelieving that he was actually justifying his decisions to a four year old. Nina asked questions about everything and anything but she still thought her Papi was infallible and wouldn't question him or his decisions. 

"You hurted Usnavi's butt."

"A spanking is not the same as hurting someone and I think you know that. Does Usnavi kick and hit Abuela when she spanks your backside? "

Sonny's eyes went wide, "'Navi would never kick and hit Abuela."

"Then why would it be okay to kick me when I was spanking Usnavi? "

"But Usnavi doesn't get spankings! He's a growed up!"

Kevin had to hold back a smile at the toddler's use of the phrase "growed up." He reminded himself to stay firm and said, "'Usnavi is still a kid. He's a big kid, but he's still a kid. And you're right, Usnavi doesn't get a lot of spankings because he usually makes good choices but today he made a bad one."

"But you're giving him too may pow pows!" Sonny argued.

"Like I said, Usnavi is a big boy, so he's getting a big boy spanking."

"But!"

"Sonny, no more arguing," Kevin scolded, "I'm the adult, you're the kid. You don't get a say in how Usnavi gets punished."

"No fair!" Sonny argued, stomping his foot.

"Enough," Kevin responded sternly, "Do you want a pow pow before we even talk about you kicking me?"

Sonny shook his head no and snaked his hand back to cover his bottom. 

"Then no more tantrums," Kevin responded, "Now, should you have kicked me? Was that nice?"

Sonny put his fingers in his mouth and shook his head.

"Okay, I think you know what comes next."

"No, no spanking," Sonny whined, trying to wiggle off Kevin's lap.

"The sooner we start, the sooner it'll be over. And then Usnavi can get out of the corner. If you hadn't come out,  Usnavi would've been done by now and we could've all been playing a game."

"Sorry 'Navi," Sonny called, starting to sniffle, but finally settling and letting Kevin place him face down over his knees. Mr. Rosario wasn't planning to be hard on the kid. He was only four after all. One good "pow pow" from the spoon probably would've hurt more, but Kevin hoped that putting the kid over his knee and spanking him would scare him without actually having to hurt too much. To that end, he cupped his hand and brought it down on the kid's butt with a loud but mild pop. Sonny immediately started crying at the noise more than anything. Kevin brought his hand down three more times before standing the squirming kid up.

"Did you learn your lesson?" Kevin asked firmly, holding the kid at arm's length. Sonny nodded through tears while rubbing his butt. Kevin looked at the crying kid and frowned, feeling like a jerk. He opened his arms, worried that the kid would reject him. To the man's relief, Sonny launched himself into the man's arms. Kevin couldn't help but notice that Sonny took a seat in his lap, his butt obviously not hurting that much. Once the kid stopped crying, Kevin called out, "Usnavi, you can come out and give your cousin a hug."

Usnavi didn't need to be told twice, rushing over and pulling Sonny off Mr. Rosario's lap and perching him on his hip.

"S'okay, 'Navi. Mr R. doesn't spank too hard. You'll be okay." Sonny tried to whisper into Usnavi's ear, but he was loud enough for the whole apartment to hear him.

 "Thanks Sonny. You were very brave," Usnavi said, squeezing his cousin tight to his chest.

"Alright, Sonny go back into Nina's room and play," Kevin ordered after a minute, pulling the kid out of Usnavi's arms and setting him down on the floor.

"Noooooo," Sonny whined.

"Do you wanna sit en la esquina while Usnavi gets the rest of his spanking?" Kevin asked, raising an eyebrow. Sonny frantically shook his head.

"Then go play."

Sonny hugged Usnavi quickly around the legs and said, "Be brave, 'Navi, it'll be over 'fore you know it," before running back into Nina's room. Usnavi had to smile. Those were the same words he always told Sonny when Abuela spanked him or put him in time out. 

"Alright, mijo, let's get this done," Mr. Rosario said, wooden spoon once again in hand.

"Yessir," Usnavi said sadly, shuffling over to the couch.

"You know what to do."

Usnavi sighed and unbuttoned his pants before pushing them to his knees.

"Over," Kevin ordered, helping the kid over his knee. Usnavi couldn't help but wince when he felt his boxers being again pulled down and his baggy shirt pushed up to reveal his bare backside. Kevin didn't waste any time, bringing the spoon down with a crack and quickly resettling into the same rhythm as before. This time, it didn't take long for Usnavi to start squirming. Kevin could tell that the kid was trying to be brave and take his punishment stoically, so he didn't fault him for not holding completely still. 

"Alright, I wasn't planning on lecturing anymore, but since we had an unforeseen interruption, we'd better go over it again. Why are you over my knee, Usnavi?" Kevin asked sternly, but more resigned than before. He really, really just wanted to get this over with. 

"Ah, 'cause I snuck out to go play handball and left Nina and Sonny alone."

"What you did was not only disobedient, shirking your responsibilities, but irresponsible and dangerous. I never want to have this conversation again. Me entiendes?" Mr. Rosario scolded, bringing the spoon down on the very tops of Usnavi's thighs. 

"Yes sir," Usnavi said, starting to sniffle again. Intent on finishing firmly, Kevin sped up the pace of his smacks until he heard Usnavi crying openly. Knowing that the kid had had about enough, Mr. Kevin brought the spoon down hard once more on each side of the kid's butt before dropping the it on the floor.

Comforting not being his strong suit, Kevin started to awkwardly pat Usnavi on the back to signal that it was done. Once the kid had regained his breath, Kevin pulled Usnavi's boxers up. Usnavi pushed himself up shortly after and stood in front of the man still sniffling. 

"I'm really, really sorry, Mr. R," Usnavi mumbled, looking down at the floor. 

Kevin squeezed him on the shoulder and replied, "I know, mijo. Just don't do it again."

"You still mad at me?" Usnavi asked hesitantly. 

"No, of course not. You took your hiding and now it's over. Say sorry to your Abuela and this'll all be behind us." 

_Present_

"Yeah, and then Abuela smacked me upside the head but then she gave me a hug and said I was forgiven," Usnavi said, and the rest of the table laughed. The large family always ended up reminiscing about the past at Sunday night dinner at the Rosario's. 

"Damn, I do not remember this at all," Sonny replied.

"That's because he barely tapped you!" Usnavi complained.

"Well, I had to save my arm to tan your behind," Kevin chuckled. 

"I bet you cried like a baby," Sonny teased, smirking at Usnavi.

"Not as much as you, smart ass," Usnavi replied and the two started shoving at each other.

"Hey, knock it off." Mr. Rosario commanded. Nina, Vanessa, and Dani couldn't help but burst into laughter when not only did Sonny and Usnavi straighten up in their seats at the older man's firm tone, but Benny instinctively did too.  Benny felt his face go hot, and tried to go back to eating as if nothing had happened, but soon joined in the laughter. 

"Hey, didn't you say Benny talked Usnavi into going?" Sonny asked, "Sounds like he's the only one who didn't get whooped for his role in that incident.

"Shut up, Son." Benny muttered. 

"Hey now, you're not too big to put over my knee," Kevin said with a wink to Sonny. Benny's eyes went wide and he nearly choked on his food, much to the amusement of everyone at the table, especially Sonny. 

"Stop picking on him or no dessert for you," Cami scolded. 

"Oh c'mon, Mama Rosario," Vanessa said, "It's pretty funny to watch him squirm."

"None for you either then," Cami said, receiving a look of outrage from her daughter's best friend. 

"You can have some of mine," Usnavi stage whispered, trying to appear chivalrous.

"Be nice to each other or none of you are getting dessert," Cami warned shaking her fork at the table. They all laughed, knowing that there was no way she would actually take dessert away from them. There wasn't much she loved more in the world then sharing her cooking with her family.  


	18. You think you're funny?

“Sit there and shut up. You’re in time out,” Usnavi said, taking the slushie out of Sonny’s hand, pointing to the stool beside the cash register. Usnavi was at his wits end. Sonny was apparently in a bad mood, though Usnavi couldn’t say why. He had seemed find the night before, but as with most teenagers, Sonny could have his moods with little warning. 

“What’d I do?” Sonny asked and Usnavi just about lost it. All day long, Sonny had been increasingly aggravating. The day had started off with Sonny barely talking to Usnavi, answering in grunts or single words, though that in itself was not all that surprising. Sonny was in no way a morning person, but when it went on for nearly two hours, Usnavi started to get worried. In the late morning, Sonny’s mood seemed to pick up, but not in the way Usnavi wanted. The teen began to needle Usnavi, bugging him about being an old man, a kill joy, and anything else he could to get under Usnavi’s skin. Usually, Usnavi didn’t mind the teasing but Sonny was being incessant. Still, Usnavi just gritted his teeth and tried to ignore him seeing that the kid was having an off day. Sonny only stopped when Vanessa came in, having the afternoon off, to spend time with Usnavi. Now, the cousins were arguing over Sonny’s penchant for taking bodega snacks. 

“What’d you do? I just told you that you were banned from slushies for the day because you’re being fresh. And then what do you do? As soon as I wasn’t watching, you poured yourself one. I am losing my patience with you, Son. Now, sit down before I smack you into next week.” 

With a huff, Sonny flopped down on the crate and crossed his arms. Once he was sure the kid would do as he was told, Usnavi turned back to Vanessa, who looked up from her magazine to smirk at Usnavi.

“What?” Usnavi asked his girlfriend. He was ready to pull his hair out and was hoping for some sympathy from Vanessa that he obviously wasn’t going to get. 

“You’re going to smack him into next week? Really? What does that even mean? That sounds like something Dani would threaten. You also gonna tell him to stop crying or you’ll give him something to cry about?”

“Maybe,” Usnavi said with a silly grin before kissing his girlfriend. Sonny could be a pain in the ass, but Usnavi loved the little family the three of them were starting to make. That is, until he heard the loud, melodramatic throat clearing from his little cousin. 

“That’s five more minutes,” Usnavi said, his patience unravelling by the minute. 

“What? I just had to clear my throat,” Sonny grumbled. Usnavi turned to go give Sonny a piece of his mind when Vanessa put a hand on his arm to stop him.

“Sonny, watch it. That’s ten more minutes now. Wanna go for 15?” Vanessa added. 

“Bitch.” Sonny muttered under his breath, apparently regretting it as his eyes went wide went wide as soon as the words left his mouth. Usnavi watched as Vanessa walked quickly over to Sonny, pinching his ear as she pulled him up to face her.

“Como me llamaste?” Vanessa said in a low tone that even made Usnavi shiver. Although he was pissed at his cousin, he wouldn’t wish his girlfriend’s wrath on his worst enemy. At the very least, Usnavi figured that Sonny was about to have his head bitten off. Vanessa didn’t speak Spanish much, but it tended to come out when she was pissed off. 

“I am so so sorry. I just slipped out.” Sonny replied. Usnavi saw the kicked-puppy look come across Sonny’s face, and even though it sometimes worked to soften up him or Benny, he really doubted it would work on Vanessa. He sat down in the chair that Vanessa had just vacated to watch the fireworks.

“Sit back down,” Vanessa commanded before walking toward the bodega bathroom. Usnavi watched her curiously, but she was obviously on a mission for something. When she came back holding a dixie cup full of soap and some paper towels, Usnavi knew what she was up to. 

“Open,” she commanded, squatting down in front of Sonny and taking a firm hold of his chin. Sonny kept his mouth closed and shook his head. Usnavi winced, knowing that his cousin was only digging himself deeper. 

“I’m gonna count to three and before I have Usnavi give me his belt to beat your backside. One,” Vanessa said, staring Sonny down. Usnavi’s hands subconsciously went to his waist before he remembered that he wasn’t wearing a belt. Oh well, he was sure that the kid wouldn’t get to three. Pretty sure. At least, he hoped so. 

“Two,” Vanessa said, her eyes narrowing. Finally, after what felt like hours to Usnavi, Sonny opened his mouth and let Vanessa shove the soap covered paper towels into his mouth. Vanessa thoroughly scrubbed his mouth with the soapy cloth, making sure the soap covered his cheeks and teeth before instructing the kid to bite down on the soggy paper towels, making soap and saliva drip out of his mouth. Sonny winced and grimaced but kept the wad of paper towels in his mouth. Both Usnavi and Sonny watched Vanessa, waiting to see how long she would make the kid keep the paper towels in his mouth. After only a minute, Vanessa took the towels out of Sonny’s mouth and the kid visibly relaxed, but Usnavi had the feeling she was up to something. His suspicions were confirmed when she took the paper towels and dipped them back into the soap, thoroughly covering them, and raised an eyebrow at Sonny. 

“Open your mouth,” Vanessa commanded. Usnavi had to say that although he felt bad for his cousin, he was a little impressed with Vanessa. He knew that he certainly would have caved by now. 

“We’re gonna do this three times. I know since you haven’t spit yet, your mouth still tastes like shit. Now, it’s up to you how long you wanna draw this out for. I’ve got all day,” Vanessa said. Usnavi watched the interaction between the two and held his breath, waiting to see his stubborn cousin give in to his stubborn girlfriend. After a few more seconds of contemplation, Sonny opened his mouth the tiniest amount. Vanessa grabbed onto his chin and held firm, again scrubbing Sonny’s mouth, this time making sure to get the back of his teeth and the roof of his mouth while taking care not to push the towels so far into the kid’s mouth that he gagged. She left the paper towels in the kid’s mouth for another minute and then repeated the process once more. Both De La Vegas visibly relaxed once the final time was over and Vanessa let the kid go rinse his mouth

“You got something to say to me?” Vanessa asked, looking pointedly at Sonny once he returned from the bathroom.

“I’m sorry ‘Nessa,” Sonny said, batting his eyelashes at her. Usnavi smiled when she hugged Sonny and lightly cuffed him on the back of the head before turning the kid around. 

“C’mere,” Usnavi said firmly, needing to stay in disciplinarian mode for a minute, beckoning the kid toward him. Sonny took slow steps toward him, looking like he was marching toward his death, not just a firm scolding from his cousin.

“This is your last warning, Son,” Usnavi said, leaning forward in his chair, “Anything else from you today and I’m gonna whoop you. No more warnings, no more time outs, no more head slaps, nothing. Understood?”

“Yes sir,” Sonny mumbled.

“Good. Now go finish your original time out,” Usnavi said, swatting Sonny’s backside lightly to get him moving. 

“Can I see that?” Vanessa asked, pointing to Sonny’s slushie that had started all the drama to begin with. Usnavi looked at her curiously but handed it over. With a wink, she handed it to Sonny.

“Hey!” Usnavi exclaimed, “You’re rewarding bad behavior.”

“You been reading parenting books or something?” Vanessa replied, “Three rounds with the soap is pretty harsh. Besides, you’re the parent. I’m the cool step parent that gets to spoil him.”

****

Sonny didn’t know what was going on with himself today. He had woken up grumpy, and the only thing that made him feel better was getting on Usnavi’s last nerve. But now, he knew he had just about pushed Usnavi too far. His cousin had threatened to whoop him if he screwed up again today. So, for the rest of the afternoon, Sonny had tried to be on his best behavior. He did his work, didn’t complain, and held back the sarcastic retorts about Usnavi that popped into his head. Plus, he did feel bad about what he said to Vanessa. That was really out of character for him, but he had been annoyed at Usnavi and took it out on her. He figured he was lucky that Vanessa didn’t completely wail on his ass for that. So, he tried to lay off for the rest of the day. Really, he tried. But when Usnavi asked him for the thousandth time how to search through his emails for something, Sonny just couldn’t resist one more quip about Usnavi being an old man. 

“Stay here,” Usnavi muttered through gritted teeth while walking out of the room and Sonny knew his cousin had had enough of him. When the older De La Vega returned, he holding a paint stirrer he’d grabbed from the bodega’s small home improvement section. 

“C’mon cuz,” Sonny whined, trying to talk his way out of a spanking as usual, “It was just a joke.”

“I warned you that I was at the end of my rope. You already earned this for what you said to Vanessa. I gave you a pass because she already punished you, but I warned you what any more lip would lead to.”

“But I was so quiet all afternoon! I didn’t make fun of you or nothing!”

“I warned you,” Usnavi repeated, “Now, let’s get this over with. Drop your jeans and c’mere.” 

With a huff, Sonny reluctantly undid the button on his jeans and let them fall to his knees. To the kid’s surprise, Usnavi didn’t sit down on the folding chair they kept in the bodega’s back room, but instead propped his foot on it. Sonny reluctantly took a half step closer to Usnavi and let himself be pulled over Usnavi’s raised leg. Once in position, Sonny felt Usnavi use one arm to take a firm hold on his waist. A moment later, he felt the paint stirrer tap his butt in warning before coming down with a firm crack. 

“I’ve had enough of the attitude from you,” Usnavi said, cracking the piece of wood down twice more on Sonny’s boxer covered backside. Sonny figured he should be grateful that they were staying up, at least for the moment, since Usnavi had told him that he would spank him bare to be able to see the damage until he could trust Sonny not to fake cry his way out of a punishment. 

“Yes sir,” Sonny replied hoping to win brownie points from his cousin. It didn’t seem to work, though, as Sonny felt the stirrer come down two more times, lower this time. Sonny figured that the make-shift paddle didn’t hurt as much as the sneaker or belt but did hurt more than just Usnavi’s hand. 

“I warned you. I tried to be patient, but you pushed me too far. We better not have a repeat of today anytime soon, entiendes?” 

“Yes, ‘Navi,” Sonny said, bracing himself. 

“Good, Usnavi replied. Sonny felt Usnavi’s arm hold him a little snugger before the stirrer came down rapid fire on his backside, right where he sat, half a dozen times. Sonny heard the noise of the stirrer landing with a thump on the desk before he felt himself being pulled upright. Sonny looked at Usnavi curiously. His ass smarted but it wasn’t the spanking he was expecting. 

“You want more?” Usnavi asked, smirking slightly. Sonny shook his head and started to rub his butt.

“Why’d you go easy on me?” Sonny asked, before realizing that Usnavi might not have thought he had gone easy, “I mean, not easy. I learned my lesson. That whooping may have even been too hard --”

“Save it, Sonny,” Usnavi chuckled, “I knew you were trying to knock it off with the attitude this afternoon. But you were being a little shit for most of the day and I did warn you. Couldn’t have you think I was a pushover.”

“Yeah, yeah. You used to be. I blame Benny for that,” Sonny smirked before pushing himself closer to his cousin. Usnavi seemed to get the message and pulled the kid into a tight hug.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm running out of ideas so if you have anything you'd like to see, please let me know.


End file.
